Naruto ::Ascension::
by Jarik Tentsu
Summary: [Incomplete - Ch5] Naruto leaves Konoha because he has decided he can learn better from a different teacher...Kyuubi? A new demonic enemy and unlikely allies. NarutoSakura, ItachiOC, SasukeKyuubi(Who's a girl) and more!
1. Chapter I

**:: Ascension ::**  
_By Jarik Tentsu_

  
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**Genre: **Action/Adventure/Romance/Angst  
**Rating: **PG-13, but may become R later – Violence, Possible Sex, Course Language, Dark Themes  
**Pairings: ** Naruto/Sakura, Itachi/OC, Kyuubi(female, human form)/Sasuke, Kurenai/Iruka, Gaara/Hinita and other unimportant ones  
**Description: **Naruto leaves Konoha because he has decided he can learn better from a different teacher...Kyuubi!? A new demonic enemy and unlikely allies. Naruto/Sakura, Kyuubi(female, human form)/Sasuke, Itachi/OC, Kurenai/Iruka, Gaara/Hinita and more! NON YAOI/YURI  
**Beta Reader:**Draoldan/GreyWolf   
**Disclaimer: ** I don't own Naruto...unfortunately  
**Author's Note: **This is my one hundrendth story...let's hope it becomes the first COMPLETE one.  
  
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**Chapter 1**

  
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He stood in a familiar dark corridor. Doors at each of the corridors sides, all of them leading to a different path in the maze. Dim light created shadows in every corner. The air was musty and the floor was damp with a murky liquid. An aura of death seemed to fill the place as if an entire city had been killed and their bodies left to rot, in a dark, unknown hallway. This was a lair of one of the most terrifying monsters in existence. 

Uzumaki Naruto was in his own mind. To be more specific, the part of his mind that held Kyuubi, the Demon Fox of Nine Tails which had been sealed in him when he was a just a baby by the Fourth Hokage. The last time Naruto had come here was during his training with Jiraiya. He was thrown off a cliff by the Perverted-sensei to 'awaken' his second pool of chakra. The 'near death situation' had led him to meet his demon. Naruto had blackmailed Kyuubi into paying 'rent' for living inside his body in chakra, which had come in useful when he was fighting Neji in the Chuunin exam finals. 

_What am I doing here again...?_ Naruto thought. He wasn't in a life and death situation...or so he hoped, he was merely lying in his bed, sleeping as usual. Were some assassins crouching over his sleeping body, trying to kill him? He suppressed a shiver. Now that was a scary thought. That'd be the worst way to die; in his sleep. 

A loud roar cut the silence like a knife cuts through fabric. It was a deep and frightening sound that shook the entire room, and it felt as if the foundations would crumble. He knew exactly what was making the noise. _Kyuubi..._ There was no doubt about it. It was definitely the Demon Fox of Nine Tails. 

Naruto took a deep breath and walked into the room which held the demon. Fear gripped him and told him to run away, but he fought the thought and went a little closer to the thick bars of the cage. Two bright red eyes stared at him from inside the cage. The blonde haired boy could make out the faint outline of Kyuubi's head which was at least thirty times bigger than him. The demon had its jaw slightly open, showing rows of massive teeth, each one larger than Naruto's legs put together. He definitely wouldn't want to be caught in those. Naruto also noticed that the entire room was slightly illuminated with a red tint, probably from the demon's chakra. 

"Boy..." a deep voice spoke. 

"Kyuubi..." Naruto said trying to keep as much fear out of his voice as possible. 

There was a tense silence between the two for a while, before Kyuubi spoke up again. "I called you here." 

"Why?" Naruto asked, genuinely curious what the demon wanted. Usually it was always him that tried to communicate with the demon for the use of its chakra. What would the Demon of Nine Tails want with him? 

"A situation has arisen...one that will require us to..." The demon seemed to choke on the next part. "...work together." 

Naruto's eyes widened and his jaw dropped. Now _this_ unexpected. "What the hell are you talking about, you stupid fox!?" 

"A new evil has arisen, one that is more powerful than Orochimaru." 

Someone more powerful than Orochimaru!? The same Orochimaru who killed the Hokage and nearly destroyed the Leaf Village? Whoever this 'new evil' was must have been a demigod or something. "Who!?" Naruto demanded. 

Kyuubi seemed slightly uncertain whether to continue. "A demon named Akira." The giant fox uneasily continued. "He was a very dangerous creature from where I come from. He is pure evil." 

"Like you?" Naruto asked snidely. 

Kyuubi let out a growl that made Naruto shiver. "Fool. I am not evil. That is a mistake all humans mistake, not all demons are evil!" Kyuubi roared making Naruto flinch. 

"If you're such a saint, then why the hell did you attack our village?" The Gennin asked, getting angry. 

"Demon is the word given to any creature that comes from another dimension called Kryton. The reason why demons are named as 'evil' monsters are because the only way a demon can cross dimensions is if a human summons it, binding it to the will of the human. I was summoned and ordered to destroy your pitiful village, ever since I was sealed within you, that previous connection with my former master has been exterminated. The only humans who summon demons are those who want to cause destruction upon the world which is why all humans seem to have misconceptions about us. I was summoned by Orochimaru. He attacked the village as a test, to see how powerful I really was. I'd say he was disappointed." 

"Akira however is different. He lives in the North of my world with an army at his following. He has the power to take the life of any creature in Kryton and rules with an iron fist. For millennia the other residents of Kryton have lived in fear from him and his army. It seems he has set his eyes on this dimension to assimilate it to his own needs. Though he cannot yet come into this world, he can send small bands of his elite armies into this dimension through unknown means." 

"NANI!?" Naruto exclaimed in his typical loud voice. "So a mega evil demon is trying to take over this world!? How powerful can he possibly be!?" 

"He has an elite squadron of his most trustworthy and powerful demons. I was one of the more powerful demons in Kryton not affiliated with Akira and I lost pathetically to one of the weakest of the elite group." And Kyuubi had been so powerful that it had required the Fourth Hokage to do a suicidal attack to stop the demon, and even that had only imprisoned it and hadn't killed it. 

Naruto gulped. "So what? You want me to ally with you and kick his ass?" 

"Indeed." 

"Well then I'll go tell Tsunade-baba to let us go and I'll show the whole village who rocks!" Naruto said in his typical 'I'm going to be Hokage' tone. 

"No, you will not." 

Naruto blinked. "Huh?" 

"If you tried going up against Akira, you'd be squashed like a fly. He wouldn't even need to send his elites to kill you, his weaker soldiers probably could. You need a better sensei who can teach you things that can kill demons." 

"Who? And hey, I'm not weak!!" 

"Me." 

There was a pause...then... 

"NANI!?" 

"Boy, I know how to use every jutsu I have witnessed thus far, and since so many threw their lives at me, I have witnessed a lot. I know demonic techniques from my dimension; techniques people like Orochimaru can only dream of doing. I know your limits, so I can push you passed them the most. I'm the best teacher you've got." 

Naruto seemed awed by the idea of being taught every jutsu. He couldn't wait until he showed them off to the village, beat Sasuke badly and got the acknowledgement he deserved! But he was still wary of the demon. "How can I trust you?" 

"I want to fight for my world, you want to fight for yours. We have a common goal and a common enemy." 

Naruto thought for a second. "How will you be able to train me? Would I have to come here...?" Naruto said referring to Kyuubi's cage in his mind. 

"No. You and I have intermixing chakra, as well as the intermixing thoughts. However the seal is stopping me from looking into your thoughts. If you removed it I'd be able to 'talk' in your head." 

Naruto's head snapped up. If he removed the seal, then would Kyuubi go and rampage across the planet again? "Hey, fox, if I unsealed you, wouldn't you leave my body?" 

"No. My body was destroyed. The only thing trapped currently is my mind. If you released it, I would still be inside your mind; however you would have access to most of my chakra rather than just small shards of it and we would be able to mentally 'talk' to each other as I mentioned before. In addition, I would be able to take control of your body whenever I wanted unless your will was greater than mine, which would mean we'd be fighting for control. You are probably changing your mind now, but if you care about your precious friends, then this is necessary." 

Naruto gazed at the kitsune. He couldn't sense any sign of deception or hostility, which was different from the first time he had been here. He sighed, and then pulled the piece of paper that read 'seal' off the cage. 

There was a loud rumbling, then the thick metal bars of the cage began glowing with a dull red colour. They continued becoming brighter until the light was almost blinding. Then they dulled again, and disappeared as the glowing stopped. Naruto took a step backward as the large beast stepped out of its cage for the first time in 13 years. It gave a purr of joy then looked at the boy fondly. 

"Thank you kit." 

"Keh. What now?" 

"Right now. But first, we must prepare. To have the most effective training..." Naruto waited eagerly for the 'words of wisdom'. "...we must leave the village and go to somewhere remote." 

"NANI!? You're saying that I should leave my HOME!?" Naruto shouted, offended and furious by the suggestion. 

"It is true that you humans seem to fight the best when trying to avenge or protect your 'precious people'. But now days, most of you have become lazy. I think the only ones that deserve the title of Gennin in your village are Uchiha Sasuke, Aburame Shino and Nara Shikamaru. And none of you deserve to be Chuunins. That sensei of yours, Iruka, may be fit to teach, but is only at Gennin level." Naruto glowered at the fact that his 'father figure' was being insulted. "It's not like many would miss you. To them you are simply a monster. They look at you and see me, save for a few. Staying here would only stagger your progress and if the Hokage found out, you'd be imprisoned or maybe even killed." Kyuubi was blunt and straight to the point, but it still hurt. 

"Tsunade-baba would never do that!" The blonde haired boy protested. 

"Don't underestimate her. She wouldn't be thinking that she's killing you, to her, she'd be killing me and helping you." 

"You have a point..." Naruto said his gaze dropping. 

"I'll give you some time to think about it." The demon said. 

Naruto nodded and left the room and back to the hallway. He wandered mindlessly as he pondered whether or not to take up Kyuubi's offer. It was true, everyone would be happy if he was gone. The only people who cared about whether he lived or died were Iruka and Hinata (who he had finally discovered was obsessed with him) and they'd both be able to survive without him. He also didn't doubt the fact that Tsunade might kill him to stop Kyuubi from destroying the village. She was a kind Hokage, but she was responsible for the village and would have to make tough decisions. 

If Kyuubi was telling the truth, then the entire world could be in peril. If he didn't take up Kyuubi's offer, he could be responsible for the destruction of Konoha because he was too weak to stop Akira. The Fox Demon sounded genuine. 

He found himself walking into a room of memories. He stared at a black void of nothingness. An image swirled into view. He realized it was him. It was a painful memory from when he was young and had first come to the ninja academy. 

_A 5 year old Naruto stared at the crowd of parents and children gathered around the front of the academy. He didn't like crowds and they didn't seem to like him. _

He could hear some of the adults pointing and whispering at him. One lady actually had the courage to walk up to him and say. "Get lost, monster, you will not become a shinobi. If it were up to me, I'd kill you." 

He saw a pink haired girl holding onto the woman's hand ask shyly. "Hey mum, who is that boy?" 

"He's a menace. I don't want you hanging around him." The woman said harshly. 

"But why?" 

"You will not hang around him." The mother said even harsher. "Look, the presentation has begun." 

The image swirled and then formed another one. Then another. All of them similar. All of them he was treated like crap. Being insulted by Sakura, Sasuke, adults he didn't know and other children from the academy. Kakashi training Sasuke, but not him. Being kicked out of shops for no reason, being bullied in his earlier years at school, being alone... 

No one cared for him. But he didn't feel the same way. He had his own precious people that he wanted to protect from anything that would try to harm them. If Akira was as bad as Kyuubi claimed, then they could all be in peril. Maybe Kyuubi was right...maybe this was the right choice. 

He returned to the room where Kyuubi stood, waiting for an answer. 

"Have you made up your mind? Will you leave the village to train so that you can fight against Akira?" 

"Hai."   
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"What's going on!?" Sakura exclaimed at the large crowd gathered around Naruto's house. Many ANBU members were strolling around on the scene cautiously. Had Naruto been attacked? Was he alright? Why were the ANBU involved? 

She pushed her way through the crowd and looked at the room. Nothing had been broken or smashed. There were no bodies, everything was fine and untouched. She frowned. What was wrong then? She saw a familiar face. "Sasuke-kun!" she said to her crush. "What happened? Where's Naruto?" The black haired boy seemed as clueless as her. He just shook his head. 

"He's gone." A saddened voice said from behind her. She spun around to see Kakashi. "Gone? Where!? Tell me Kakashi-sensei!" 

The grey haired man sighed. "It'd be best if he told you." Both Gennins seemed confused, and then Kakashi pulled out two envelopes, each one addressed to one of his teammates. "We found this a while ago. It's for you. I'd suggest you go home and read them by yourselves." 

The pink haired girl blinked and walked back to her house, for once not being obsessive over Sasuke, who also walked to his house, frowning. She ran upstairs to her room, closed the door, and held the envelope in front of her. She had a feeling it was holding something she didn't want to see. 

The Gennin took a deep breath and tore open the seal. 

_Dear Sakura. _

If you're reading this, I'm far away from here. If you're wondering why, it's so I can get stronger. I have a good sensei teaching me, one even better than anyone here, but this village is halting my progress so I have decided it'd be best if I left and trained in isolation. 

It's not like I'm wanted here anyway. Everyone hates me. And even though you may deny it, deep down, even you hate me. The exception is Iruka-sensei who took care of me when I was young. I am definitely doing the world a favour by leaving. 

I've given up on my dream to be Hokage, after all, why would I want to be somewhere where I am not wanted? Tsunade-baba is a good Hokage and will probably do a better job than I could do if I did manage Hokage. Despite this, I am not abandoning Konoha; I will still protect it from all evil. But I feel the best way I can do this is by leaving. 

Despite the fact that you and Sasuke hate me, I care about both of you. I consider you two as people I'd give my life for. Therefore my belongings are to be shared between you and Sasuke except for my apartment, which goes to Iruka. 

Well I probably will never see you again, so this is my goodbye to you, Haruno Sakura. I'm sorry it has to be this way, but you're probably happy. Good luck to you and Sasuke, you really do make a good couple. Don't mourn over me. The annoying Naruto is finally gone! 

PS: This letter did sound excessively lame, didn't it? =P 

Uzumaki Naruto. 

Tears were falling from her eyes as she read the letter. She cared! She'd gove her life for him! She considered Naruto as her friend too. Damnit, she'd die to protect him as he would for her! But it only struck her now how much she cared about him and how badly she had treated him in the passed. Before, he had been an annoyance, a pest. She had treated him that way too, as if he was a fly in her face she was trying to swat. _Oh my god...how could I have been so cruel? I thought he was just a overly hyperactive boy...I didn't know he was crying inside...what have I done? _

She fell to her knees and began to cry. He had left, probably thinking that right now she and Sasuke were celebrating his leaving. Or that no one had even noticed he was gone. How long HAD he been gone? A few hours? A day? A week? No one had noticed until now. 

She looked down at the note. Tear stains were smudging the ink. "Naruto...I'm sorry..." She whispered.   
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"Baka...goddamn stupid baka..." Sasuke said as he read a note left by Naruto. 

_To Uchiha Sasuke. _

Hey Sasuke, guess what!? I'm outta your face! You must be happy. I'm leaving Konoha to go and train by myself. I reckon I'll be able to get stronger that way. Besides, no one will really miss me. No one cares whether I live or die. Wait, I'd like to change that, most Konohans want me dead. 

Well Sasuke, dunno about you, but I consider you my friend. So take care of yourself, okay? We're still rivals, and if we meet again, I expect you to be able to beat me. I know you'll be able to revive your clan and defeat your brother. You've got it within you, you just need to work hard and kick Itachi's ass. 

Take care of Sakura for me, she really does care about you Sasuke. She may not be in love with you, and just have a silly crush, but she still considers you a close friend. Both of you are probably happy I left. But make sure you protect her. Please. 

My possessions are to go to you and Sakura except my home, which goes to Iruka. 

Train hard, Sasuke. 

PS: I think this letter was even lamer than Sakura's. 

Your Rival, Naruto aka 'The Dobe'. 

Despite the fact that the note seemed to be in Naruto's cheery voice, it was depressing reading it. Naruto WAS out of his face...but was that what he had wanted? 

For the first time since the murder of his parents, he finally found people he could care about. Naruto and to some extent, Sakura. He had found friends that he could trust and depend on. Even though Naruto was so annoying, it was those qualities that gave Sasuke a life other than training for his goal. 

Damn idiot didn't know anything. Train by himself! How the hell was he gonna do that? The dobe would definitely come back to this village when he wore himself out. Fucking hell, why did Naruto have to be so stupid! 

He snarled and then punched a hole through his door in anger. Both at Naruto and at himself. It was true the saying they said: 'You don't know what you've got until it's gone'. He had the friend, finally, and now he'd lost him. _Damn you Sasuke...you are even more of an idiot than Naruto..._

_Sakura..._ She was annoying, but he also considered her a friend. He had acted even colder to her than he had to Naruto. If he continued to ignore her, would she go as well? He pondered over the question. He'd use what he had now. He wouldn't waste away another friend. 

The black haired boy left, going to see how his female team-mate was coping.   
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Sakura walked in no apparent destination in the streets of Konoha, ignoring everything and deep in thought. Inner Sakura was unusually quite. 

_Why was I so mean to Naruto? What did he do to make everyone hate him so?_

It was true. Everyone in the village seemed to hate him. Something the adults and older members of the village were hiding. The way that they would treat him badly even if they hadn't met him. 

True, Naruto was excessively annoying sometimes...but his heart was in the right place. Half the people seemed to treat him like he was a...demon or something. She remembered in academy, one of the parents had called him a bloodthirsty demon. She vaguely remembered her mother forbidding her from hanging around Naruto. 

_What the hell are they hiding from us!?_ Inner Sakura roared in frustration and anger. 

She looked up and saw the ramen restaurant, Naruto's favourite place. He used to eat unnaturally large servings of ramen, his favourite food. She shook her head. 

_Damnit, he liked me, he cared about me, but I was too obsessed with fucking Sasuke to even notice him! All Naruto wanted was acknowledgement but I was too stupid to see. Why am I so cruel? I could've been good with Naruto who liked me, rather than pining after Sasuke, who saw me as an 'annoyance'. I am an idiot. I didn't even love Sasuke. I was a stupid girl with a stupid crush who was in love with the idea of being in love._

Two ladies walked passed, gossiping as usual. 

"Did you hear about that Naruto brat?" The name Naruto she spat out as if it was a curse. 

"Yeah, I heard he was dead." 

"Good riddance." Sakura's eyes widened. Flashbacks of Naruto's letter came to mind. "How did that monster die?" 

"I heard he killed himself." 

The other woman smirked. "Did the world a favour." The two seemingly innocent, friendly women both laughed and continued walking along, the topic already changing. 

Sakura stood, disgusted and shocked. She hadn't even noticed it until now. Was this what Naruto had to live with? Ever since he was just a baby, was he treated this badly? She tried to put herself in his shoes. She wouldn't have been able to handle it. She would've killed herself a long time ago. How had Naruto survived it? How had he coped? 

Once again, she felt a lump in her throat and tears began to well up again. She ran back home to come face to face with her mother and father. They saw her wet face and immediately started cooing her and trying to find out why she was like this. 

"Honey, what's wrong?" Her mother asked gently. 

"Mum...he's gone..." Sakura sobbed. 

"Who? That Uchiha kid you like?" Her dad asked. 

"N-No...N-Naruto...he left the village and I don't think he'd want to come back..." What happened next made her shocked. 

"Well I'm glad the boy had some brains. He finally realized he's not wanted here." Her kind and gentle mother said ever so harshly. 

"Yeah, he won't be stalking Sakura around anymore and she'll have a proper Gennin in her team, not some bloodthirsty de-" Her dad was interrupted by her mum. 

"DEAR!! Remember the rules...Sakura is here..." Her mother whispered and reminded her husband of the law that was put in place by the Third Hokage hiding the fact that Naruto held the demon that had terrorized the village years before. 

"Sorry I forgot..." Sakura's dad mumbled. He turned to Sakura, who had her eyes wide open and was whimpering. "Honey, what's wrong?" 

"How..." She croaked. "How can you say that?" She whispered. 

Her parents seemed confused. "Why do you care? I thought you were always telling me about how he was so annoying. Aren't you happy he's gone?" 

She remembered the line from the letter where he said '...you're probably happy.' _Oh my god...my parents are like that as well..._

"How can you be so cruel...?" Sakura whispered, referring to the whole of Konoha. Her parents blinked. "What are you talking about? That stupid boy is gone, finally this village can be in piece. I hope he dies out there..." 

Sakura exploded in rage. "HOW THE FUCK CAN YOU TALK ABOUT HIM LIKE THAT!?" Her parents were bewildered now. "DAMNIT, HE'S MY FRIEND! I CARE ABOUT HIM! WHAT MAKES HIM SO DIFFERENT FROM US!? WHY MUST HIS LIFE BE HELL!? WHY IS HE TREATED LIKE SHIT!? WHAT ARE YOU PEOPLE HIDING FROM ME!?" Like she suspected, no answer came. "I hate you..." She seethed to them and then ran out the door. 

"Sakura! Come back!!" She heard her mother's desperate call. "What has he done to her!? That accursed demon! He's corrupted our daughter!!" 

After hearing the last part, Sakura let more tears flow and she ran out of her house to nowhere in particular.   
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Sasuke saw Sakura running away from her house. He saw, she had been crying. Heavily. And she was angry. Very angry. Enraged. He walked up to her and put his hand on her shoulder. "Hey..." He said quietly, a lot more gentle than he usual was when he talked to Sakura. 

She turned around to him, he almost flinched. Her eyes were red and swollen. Her cheeks were wet and she was sobbing lightly. He'd never seen her this sad and distraught before. Even when he had told her she was annoying and when he left the village to join Orochimaru. "Sasuke..." She cried and then buried her face in his chest. He didn't throw her off as he usually would, just held her and tried to comfort her. "Sasuke...how can they be so cruel?" 

"Who?" Sasuke asked gently. 

"Everyone. Why are they like that? What did Naruto do to them?" She asked in between her sobs. 

Sasuke blinked. What was she talking about? "Tell me everything."   
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Iruka held his letter with a trembling hand. His face was pale and he was crying. 

_Iruka-sensei...you were always nice to me, my parental figure when I was younger. You are the only one who cares that I am gone, but I must do this. I must get stronger. And why stay somewhere where I am not wanted? _

Know this, I love you Iruka-sensei and I will miss you, but there was no other choice. Chances are I'll never see you again and I will miss you. 

I'm leaving my belongings to Sakura and Sasuke but you can keep my apartment. 

Take care, 

Naruto 

Naruto...how could survive out there? He would die on his own for sure. He felt angry at the rest of the village. Why did they hate him so much? He was NOT the demon everyone saw him as! Iruka would know; he was the one who lost his parents to the Demon Fox. 

_Naruto...please be alright..._   
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Hokage Tsunade sat in the centre of a long table, the council on either side of her. The ANBU had done scouting for a few kilometres around the village and there was no sign of the blonde haired kid. He most definitely left a long time ago and was beyond their reach. Another ANBU team came in and reported no luck in finding Naruto. 

When he had first met her, he had seemed a cheerful, determined boy. She hadn't known that he had been treated like the devil himself in the village. He had left for two main reasons. The fact that he thought everyone hated him and to get stronger. He had mentioned in his letters that he would protect the village, so that ruled out the possibility of him hating the village, but he had left nevertheless. 

There wasn't just the issue of him dying, there was the issue of Kyuubi. If someone got a hold of him, they could somehow release and use Kyuubi to their own advantage. People like Itachi. If he really felt that emotionally distraught by the village, then it wouldn't be hard to manipulate him into 'getting revenge'. That would be disastrous for the entire world. 

What would she do? Konoha was still recovering from the battle against Sand and Sound. There was still Orochimaru on the loose. That meant that she wouldn't be able to waste teams searching for the boy. 

She knew what she had to do, despite the fact that it hurt. "From here on, Naruto is to be deemed as a Missing-nin and a betrayer to the village." 

She got up and left the room. Staring down at the ground wondering whether her choice was right. She felt an arm on her shoulder. "You did the right thing." Her old team mate, Jiraiya said quietly. He stared at no where in particular and said. "He's a strong boy, he'll survive. Whoever his sensei is would have to be pretty darn good if he would leave a village to train."   
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"They said WHAT!?" Sasuke said angrily. He had always thought of Sakura's parents as too damn loving and caring, now he thought of them as cold, heartless bastards. 

"What are they hiding from us, Sasuke-kun!? Every adult in the village seems to know something that we don't! What the hell is it!?" 

"I don't know. But Kakashi knows and he _is_ going to tell us." 

There was a knock on Kakashi's door. The Jounin knew who it was. Sakura and Sasuke had come for answers. He sighed and opened the door to see the two Gennins staring at him angrily. 

"What do you want?" He asked uninterestedly. 

"The truth." Came Sasuke's answer. 

Kakashi took the ignorance approach. "What truth?" 

"Don't fuck with me Kakashi-sensei. Why does everyone in this village treat Naruto like...like he was some kind of monster!?" Sasuke demanded angrily. 

Kakashi sighed. Ignorance approach didn't work. He'd have to break the law. Well he knew that the two Gennins most likely wouldn't begin hating Naruto because of the secret. _Yodaime, I'm doing this for a good cause...forgive me._ "Well, I guess you two have a right to know. Come in." 

Kakashi began his explanation. "Now...where to start. Why does everyone treat Naruto like a monster? Because in a way, he is one." Sakura gave him a furious look but Kakashi put up his hand, gesturing for her to let him continue. "You two are familiar with the Demon Fox of Nine Tails? The Kyuubi?" 

Both of the Gennins nodded. "Yeah, it attacked Konoha years ago and was defeated by the Fourth Hokage. What does that have to do with Naruto?" 

"The Fourth Hokage didn't actually kill the demon, instead he used a suicidal attack that sealed the demon inside the body of a newborn spirit." Kakashi paused for a second. He saw realization dawning on Sasuke's face. "Do you know what day the Kyuubi was defeated and do you know Naruto's birthday?" 

"You're not suggesting-" 

"Yes. The Kyuubi was sealed within Naruto." By know, both Gennins had their eyes wide open. "The Third Hokage made a rule – we were not allowed to mention this to any one who didn't already know. Especially the youngsters. The Fourth Hokage wanted Naruto to be seen as a hero who would carry a great burden for the protection of the village. Unfortunately, The Third knew that the villagers would see the Kyuubi instead of him, so the rule was put forth. But it wasn't effective. Despite the fact that only a certain number of people in this village know of the Kyuubi's connection to Naruto, their attitudes were passed down onto their children and Naruto has had a hard time throughout his life. Whether from adults or children his own age." 

"But Naruto isn't a demon!" Sakura said defiantly. 

"I'm not saying he is." Kakashi replied. "I'm saying that everyone else thinks he is." 

"But why...?" 

"I'm sure you can answer that question yourself, Sakura." Kakashi said coolly. "You treated Naruto badly as well. Sasuke here at least had a reason for treating Naruto badly; he saw Naruto as an annoying show off. You just treated him badly because everyone else was." 

Sakura was taken back. What Kakashi had said was true, and it hurt. She had been so mean to Naruto because everyone else was. He was always making a fool of himself to try to get attention and he got attention. Just not the kind he wanted. 

"Your parents, Sakura, were completely against Naruto. They had campaigned to have him killed when he was a baby." Kakashi said without any trace of emotion on his face. 

Sakura's eyes began to water. "But...mum...dad...they wouldn't do that, would they? That's completely..." 

Kakashi finished her sentence. "...immoral? Unjust? Just plain damn wrong?" He saw her nod mutely. "Naruto survived because of the Fourth's wishes. Everyone respected him, thus let Naruto live...but they made no attempt to change their attitudes to him." 

Sasuke, who had been silent through the entire thing spoke up. "So where does this go from here?" 

Kakashi sighed. "He's been classed a missing-nin. To be captured. If that is impossible, he is to be killed." 

Sakura began sobbing. Sasuke gave a small nod then stared out the window, wondering how Naruto was doing.   
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_I sure am gonna miss this place..._ Naruto thought, looking down at his former home town from a distance. He saw the many houses and the four familiar Hokage sculptures that were carved into the cliff at the back. He could see his apartment block, the ninja academy, the ramen bar, and many other locations from his view. _They'll probably feel happier without me. Kakashi, Sakura, Sasuke...good luck...till we meet again, and I'm sure we will..._

_[Very well, kit, let's go now.]_ Came a voice from the back of his mind. 

_Man, that's weird!! Still have to get used to it...and stop calling me kit you stupid overgrown fox who's on steroids!!_

* * *

. First chap up. Tell me what you guys think.

* * *

Now that most of you don't know anything about Japanese. Here's a glossary of the Japanese terms I am using in this story:   
  
. Ohayo – Good Morning   
Gomen – Declining, Your Pardon  
Onegai – Please   
Ryoukai – Comprehension, Roger  
Ninjutsu – The art of Ninjas, the art of 'Stealth/Invisibility'  
Taijutsu – The art of 'The Body (Hand-to-Hand combat)'  
Nani – What   
Arigatou – Thank You  
Hai – Yes  
Iie – No  
Sensei – teacher  
-sensei – (suffix after a name) title of a teacher   
-chan – (suffix after a name) used when talking to a girl, especially in a caring way.   
-san – (suffix after a name) similar to the title of 'Mr'.   
-kun – (suffix after a name) used when talking to a boy.  
-sama – (suffix after a name) used for someone of higher status. Etc, teacher.   
Sannin – San = 3, nin = ninja So it means 3 ninja and in this case, the legendary 3.  
Kuso/Chikusho – Damn/Damnit/Shit  
Ryu – Fighting Style, School Dobe – Drop out/Loser  
Baka – Idiot, fool, dumbass  
Kitsune – Fox  
Kyuubi – (Demon Fox of) Nine Tails  
Kata – Style  
Kaiten – Whirl (Neji's attack)  
Sennin – Hermit  
Ryuuko – Dragon and Tiger - Two great rivals  
Kyoujaku – Strength, power  
Jutsu – Literally means 'The art of'. Used for most techniques in Naruto.  
Kage Buunshin – "Shadow Replication" (Kage = Shadow, Buunshin – Replication)  
Hentai – pervert, perversion, anime-porn ;-)  
Yaoi – homosexual male-male relationship  
Yuri – homosexual girl-girl reltationship  
  
In Japanese, the surname comes before the first name. Eg Sakura (first name) and Haruno (last name), would be Sakura Haruno in English and Haruno Sakura in Japanese.   
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If you want to contact me, do so on:  
  
**AIM:** Kyp Jarik  
**MSN:** (I tend to use this more)   
  
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	2. Chapter II

**:: Ascension ::**  
_By Jarik Tentsu_

  
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**Genre: **Action/Adventure/Romance/Angst  
**Rating: **PG-13, but may become R later – Violence, Possible Sex, Course Language, Dark Themes  
**Pairings: ** Naruto/Sakura, Itachi/OC, Kyuubi(female, human form)/Sasuke, Kurenai/Iruka, Gaara/Hinita and other unimportant ones  
**Description: **Naruto leaves Konoha because he has decided he can learn better from a different teacher...Kyuubi!? A new demonic enemy and unlikely allies. Naruto/Sakura, Kyuubi(female, human form)/Sasuke, Itachi/OC, Kurenai/Iruka, Gaara/Hinita and more! NON YAOI/YURI  
**Beta Reader:**Draoldan/GreyWolf   
**Disclaimer: ** I don't own Naruto...unfortunately  
**Author's Note: **Episode 79 of Naruto was awesome. Unfortunately, school has started for me, so updates will become less frequent. Quite a few reviews, didn't expect that much .

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**Reviews**  
.  
**Coolio:** Thanks. I'll try to get updates coming more often .  
**TopQuark:**Thanks.  
**MaxFic:**And here I was thinking I was being kinda lame with the sulking Sasuke and Sakura =P. Kry**p**ton? What's that? Never heard of that, I made up the name Kryton myself. I needed a villain for Kyuubi and Naruto to fight. So I made it some big evil demon dude.  
**Gopu:** Thanks for the review =D  
**Hyper Yo Yo Boy:** Thanks.  
**Kaiser-Ryu:** Best fics? Ha, I wish. Thanks for the review :)  
**Lady Light:** I wanna see what I do too ;-).  
**WolfGirl:** Yeah, that's like me also. You get all these awesome ideas, but never have the time to put it into words. I love it when I see someone else putting my ideas into words. Hope your happy too .  
**B.U.G.I.M.S:** You gotta remember, Tsunade would still think Kyuubi is evil. I mean, she had some kinda relationship with Fourth Hokage, and he died trying to kill Kyuubi. She'd think Kyuubi was making the whole story up to control Naruto and when she realizes Kyuubi's his sensei, she'd get even more worred.  
**Cards:** It is, isn't it? =D.  
**NaruSakuWoo:** I posted a spoiler in the reviews. You can read it if you want.  
**Frank Cadena:** Thanks for that. Do you speak Japanese or something? That was really helpful. The only Jap I know is what I've picked up from watching Anime.   
**S Yagami:** Thanks for your review...err...what did you exactly mean by that quote?  
**Bass Clef:** NaruSaku seem really rare despite the fact that it seems so obvious.  
**animewatcher:**Thanks.  
**Salsar Thirin:**thanks  
**Jinx-22:**Thanks   
**Fruit-tea:** Lol...sweet scene ;-). I'll try to make it good.  
**dragon89:** Whoa, everyone seems to like the idea of Kyuubi teaching Naruto. 

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**Chapter 2**

  
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_[This place is perfect for a training ground.]_ Kyuubi's voice echoed in Naruto's head. 

They were in the Country of Sky, a small, low populated country north of the Country of Fire, which housed the Hidden Village of Leaf, also known as Konoha. 

Sky only had one city and didn't have a ninja village. It was a peaceful country with nothing of value, so it didn't need any ninjas to protect it. The only thing it was useful for was its location. Travellers heading to or from the Country of Earth would stop by at the city for a while. It was more like a giant inn. The city, Tenka, was located at the south of the continent meaning that the large peninsula that jutted out into the ocean was uninhabited. There was a mountain range in the middle, with thick forest around it. There were many animals and fruit trees, providing a sizable food source. A number of caves littered on the mountain which would prove a good place to set up a 'home'. 

Indeed it was a good place to train in. 

"Cool. So what now?" Naruto said, surveying his new home. 

_[Well first we must find a good place for a shelter. One of those caves across the mountain face would be ideal. Let's go and look at them.]_

"Hai." Naruto said and began walking towards the small mountain. 

The first cave was definitely not a good choice. Bones of various creatures were littered across the floor and it stank of blood. What predatory lived there, Naruto didn't want to know. 

The second cave seemed great, it was large and perfect...until a few thousand bats awoke and chased them out. 

As soon as they took a step into the third cave, it collapse in a crash of rock and dust. 

Naruto walked towards the third cave, preparing for the worst. A man eating monster? Orochimaru's secret hideout? He stared into the dark cavern. It was smaller than the others, but seemed cozy...well as cozy as a cave could be. But they were still cautious from their previous incidents. 

"This place looks good. What do you think?" Naruto asked, walking around carefully. 

_[Hai...the aura around this place feels pleasant...]_

There was a deep growl coming from the darkness. Naruto spun around quickly, preparing for a fight. Two eyes stared at him from the blackness of the cave. Another pair of eyes appeared. 

"Shit, what are those things?" Naruto said bracing himself. 

Then they came into the light...Naruto gasped as he saw the malevolent man-eating monster that appeared...a young, cute fox. 

From behind it, its parent followed, more cautious than the kit. "{Keep away from it, kit. It's a human, they're dangerous and unpredictable.}" 

Naruto blinked as he heard the words. Then realized, with shock, that the voice was coming from the fox. "What the hell? A talking fox!?" 

The fox looked just as confused, then asked. "{A human...can understand me?}" 

Both stared at each other for a while. Kyuubi decided to take over. Naruto's eyes became red slits and his chakra changed. Kyuubi spoke through Naruto. "My name is Kyuubi. I am a fox demon from Kryton. The human boy and I are sharing this one body, he as the primary user." 

The younger fox let out a gasp. "{But I thought Kryton was just a legend.}" 

The older fox nodded, amazed that he had met a 'myth'. "{It is an honour to meet a fox demon. I myself did not believe in the tales of Kryton until now. What business do you have in our humble cave.}" 

"I am training the boy to fight against a terrible evil of my world. We left his home village because progress there would be less than progress here. We mean you no harm. We were just looking for a shelter, we are sorry to bother you." Kyuubi said politely. 

"{You may stay here if you want. We have a lot of empty space.}" The fox said, almost hopefully. 

"It is an honour." Kyuubi said with a smile then his eyes switched back and Naruto was once again in control. "Yeah, thanks." 

_'Hey, Kyu, mind telling me how the HELL I can hear a fox talk?'_ Naruto asked. 

_[Must be because I am a fox demon. I can understand foxes' speech, I think that ability was assimilated to you when the seal was broken.]_ Was the demon fox's answer. 

_'Freaky...'_   
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A furious Sakura banged on the door to her house. Her mother opened it, looking worried. "Sakura dear, where did you run off to? We were about to go look for you..." 

"I went to see Kakashi." Sakura stated coolly. 

"What for? Are you being called for an emergency mission already?" Sakura's mum asked. 

"I went there for answers. He told me everything. Naruto's past." 

Her mother looked relieved. "See? See why I told you to stay away from that monster?" 

Sakura looked coldly at her mother, anger and betrayal in her eyes. "Oh I see alright, you cold hearted bitch!" She screamed out. 

Naruto's mum flinched. "What...what's wrong with you Sakura!? You should respect your parents!" 

"I've lost all respect I ever had for you." Sakura said bitterly. "Kakashi told me everything. Including that campaign of yours to kill Naruto. You disgust me. I hate you." 

The pink haired girl ran upstairs leaving a stunned woman just staring at her, blinking. Sakura pulled out a suitcase and threw all her belongings into it. She held the picture of Team 7. Naruto, Sasuke, Kakashi and herself. She let a tear drop to the ground, and then threw that in as well. 

She ran down stairs bumping into her mum again. "Where are you going young lady?" Her mother demanded. 

"I'm leaving. I refuse to live under the same roof as murderers." And then she ran out the door. 

_Murderers..._   
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The kit's name was Blaze and the mother fox's name was Flame. They were the survivors of their family when the rest were killed by humans for their fur. Blaze had two sisters, a brother and a father, all killed. This had caused them to distrust humans. They were still slightly wary of Naruto, but the fact that he could understand them and that half of his soul was of a legendary fox-demon, they seemed more comfortable around them. 

Flame was not only a loyal, caring mother, but also fairly smart for a fox. She understood their position clearly. The reasons for leaving the village, Naruto's hard childhood and his will to protect Konoha despite his past. She was also a great hunter, being able to use her sharp teeth to tear apart her victims. 

Blaze was still in his innocence phase. He was friendly and playful and seemed to like Naruto a lot. When awake, he was overly energetic and constantly wanted Naruto to play with him, but when he went to sleep, nothing seemed to wake the young fox from its slumber. 

Blaze showed Naruto around the area. The streams with the cleanest water, the best hunting ground, and the best places to train, which were clearings. The cave was in a great location. It was at the bottom of the mountain and close to fruit trees. What was even better was that there was a spring of pure water coming from the mountain right in front of the cave as well as hot springs further up the mountain. Barely any dangerous animals travelled around this area, just prey that could be used as an abundant food source. It was indeed a great place to be. 

Naruto collected some pieces of wood and placed them in the cave as firewood and some dried grass for a bed. He explained to the foxes that it would be very uncomfortable to sleep without a soft mattress and he'd freeze without a heat source. 

After that, he collected some fruits and stored them in the cave, in the coolest area so it wouldn't go bad. He unpacked the things he had brought with him in his bag. A lot of matchsticks, a few bandages, five kunai, a pan to cook on, a pocket knife, a watch, some photos, his Leaf Ninja headband and all his money. 

The two foxes were very interested in the watch, the matchsticks, the money and the photos. They found it amazing how humans managed to get time as precise as the second rather than just looking at the sun. They knew that human could produce fire very easily, but seeing a matchstick burning in a controlled environment was still interesting for them. The photos were especially astounding – the ability to remember moments in places other than memory. And money, how could something so useless have so much value to humans? 

Naruto smiled as they looked at pictures from Konoha. He watched sadly at the pictures of his friends. He came to the picture of Team 7. Sakura, Sasuke, Kakashi and him. He missed them. 

_[C'mon kit, it's been a long day. I'd suggest you get some rest. We'll begin training tomorrow early in the morning.] _Kyuubi's voice said. 

_Hai..._ He looked at the two foxes. He put some extra firewood in the already crackling fire, and then went to his makeshift bed. "Hey you two, I'm going to sleep now. Goodnight." 

"{Goodnight...?}" Flame asked confused. 

"It's a human greeting. It means...umm...I think it means 'Have a good sleep.'" Naruto said. 

"{Very well. Good night, Naruto-kun. Good night, Kyuubi-san.}" 

Naruto lay down uncomfortably on the hay. He'd never realized how much of a luxury his bed has been. He was missing it nearly as much as he was missing ramen! It took him a while to get to sleep on the uncomfortable ground, but eventually his exhaustion took over and the entire world faded to darkness...   
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_[Very well, boy, let us begin.]_ Kyuubi said in Naruto's mind. 

He'd had a light breakfast consisting of various fruits he'd collected then had come out here. 

_'So what jutsu you gonna teach me first? Some awesome new technique more powerful than the Rasengdan?_ Naruto asked like a little child who was overly excited. 

_[Well for the most effective training, we must first find your weak points and strong points. As an observer, I can tell you them.]_ Kyuubi said. 

_[Your strong points first: You have an enormous chakra stamina and strength, even without my help. You have a nice attitude of determination in a fight and have great a great strength to protect your precious ones. You are confident and never back out of a fight willingly.]_ Kyuubi could tell Naruto was grinning and feeling very proud. Well, wait for the next part to come. 

_[Now the important part. Your weaknesses: You are over cocky. Your chakra control is erratic. Your weapon skills are only average. Your number of jutsu's you know are low. Your physical strength is weak. Your taijutsu is crap. Your mental skills and strategies, pfft, I don't even want to get started on those. Those are some, I can continue if you like?]_ Kyuubi said harshly. Naruto flinched after each insult, and then got angry. 

"Hey you damn fox! Let's see you do any better!! I can beat you! I beat Gaara, who could beat all the other genins, chuunins and maybe even some jounins in the village!!" 

_[Listen, boy, I don't care how you talk to me outside of training. But while we are in training, you WILL treat me with respect. Here, you will do whatever I tell you to do without question. If you do have a query, ask politely. You will refer to me as sensei or Kyuubi-sensei. I don't know how your teachers in school allowed you to act disrespectful as if you were in a normal high school and not learning a martial art, but here you will not do anything like that. Got that?]_ Kyuubi mentally shouted. 

Naruto nodded numbly. 

_[Despite what you may think, I am not insulting you. For the most effective training, you must find your weak points and your strong points. Therefore you can improve on your weak points.]_

_[Now each ninja village teaches differently. Konoha doesn't seem to teach very well at their ninja academy. They mainly rely on their high number of geniuses as their source of power. People like the Hyuuga clan, the Uchiha clan, the Aburame clan and many others. There are those rare people like Rock Lee who put in extra effort to match the power of the geniuses, but overall, Konoha relies on its powerful bloodlines to train themselves to become strong warriors. Your ninja academy is more like a common high school rather than a training centre. There are those other villages where they would do things like make you do push ups over knives. If you got to tired and fell, you'd die. ]_

Naruto paled at this. And he thought being thrown off a cliff by Jiraiya was crazy. 

_[You train an average of, what 4 hours a week? Pfft, a really serious warrior would do heavy training ten hours a day. That is seventy hours a week, nearly eighteen times your training time. We're going to be training about that much from now on.]_ Naruto paled slightly. 

_[I will train you from the beginning. The basics that you were failed to taught at the academy-remember what I said, don't question me-and other useful things. I will first teach you things such as many forms of meditation, improve your physical strength and your Taijutsu as well as basic chakra control.]_ Kyuubi said. Naruto didn't say anything, but the demon could tell that the boy was disappointed that he wasn't going to learn any new and 'cool' jutsus. 

Kyuubi gave a small, demonic chuckle. _[Fret not, Naruto. After you master taijutsu, you wouldn't be able to wait to show off to your friends. If you manage to keep up with my training, you will be stronger than any human on this planet and begin your journey to kill Akira.]_ Kyuubi's voice started off kindly, but he got harsh when mentioning his bane. 

_[Well, let us start.]_ Kyuubi said. Naruto's face visibly brightened with excitement. _[We'll start off with basic meditation.]_

_[Now pay attention. Meditation is controlling your thoughts. Basic meditation is boring for most people. However, when we get into higher levels of meditation, such as trance meditation, those can be very interesting. Some even prefer deep meditation over sleeping, and usually can get more rest from meditating for two hours, than sleeping for ten.]_

_[Now a human mind is made up of two parts. The conscious and the subconscious. For you, it's four parts. Your conscious, your human subconscious, my conscious and my demon-fox subconscious. The conscious is basically you. Most of your thoughts, your personality etcetera. Your subconscious is more mysterious though. It stores your memories. Every time you move, your conscious tells your subconscious, which sends a message to your muscles. Your subconscious is the one that contains many secrets that are not meant to be unleashed this early in the human evolution chain. Things such as chakra-manipulation on many levels and such. Having such control over your subconscious can be a great asset to a warrior.]_

_[The most basic meditation is merely controlling your conscious thoughts. There are two types: Focusing your thoughts and clearing. Focusing is easier, so we'll begin with that.]_

_[There are many ways to go about meditation. I'll teach you a few of them. Focusing means changing your mind in to an 'Alpha' state of brainwaves. This is when your thoughts are focused on only one thing and hardly anything else. 'Beta' is what you are usually during that day, concentrating on many things at once. 'Theta' is when your mind is cleared of thoughts or a half asleep state. 'Delta' is where you are asleep, but your subconscious is very active with dreams. 'Gamma' is when you are in deep sleep or trance meditation.]_

_[So how to get to alpha? It is fairly easy. I'll tell you the easiest way. Firstly, get into a comfortable sitting position. Best would be a cross legged position.]_ Naruto sat down on the grass. _[Now close your eyes. Next, you will pick something to focus on. Right now, you will focus on your training for the rest of the day. To focus, you usually have a mantra that you will say to yourself over and over again. Something along the lines of 'Today I will focus on nothing but training and will push myself beyond my limits' is good. Try to erase all other thoughts and stay focused on the subject. Good, now start. Time is not an issue.]_

Naruto closed his eyes. He took a deep breath and relaxed. _Okay, let's go._ He thought. _Today I will focus on nothing but training...today I will focus on nothing but training..._ The boy already felt his mind moving to what was for lunch. _Focus! Today I will focus on nothing but training..._ He went off topic a few times, but at the end started to get the hang of it. He looked up, determined and serious...with his mind focusing on training. 

_[Impressive for a first try. Your mind wandered a few times, but right now you are serious and ready for training. Let us start with some physical conditioning.]_ Kyuubi said, genuinely impressed. _[I want you to run from here to the beach and back, without stopping and under an hour.]_

Usually Naruto would have shouted out something like 'NANI!? That's impossible!', but in his focused state he merely stated: "Hai," and began running. 

After running 200 metres, he could already feel a painful stitch coming from his abdomen. _I am focused on nothing but training and will push myself past my limits. I am focused on nothing but training and will push myself past my limits._ Naruto said, focusing himself again. _There is no pain. There is no pain. There is...no...pain!_ Naruto felt Kyuubi grinning in his head as Naruto began to modify his focus. He had caught onto the idea of focusing his thoughts quickly. 

By the time he got to the beach, the stitch in his side was excruciating. His chest was burning and his legs felt like they were on fire. Sweat was dripping down his head and his clothes were soaked. He grimaced, then turned back, repeating the mantra in his head the entire way. 

He envisioned himself returning to his village, beating Sasuke, killing Orochimaru and generally showing off. This gave him more determination, and he broke out of his jog and into a run. Kyuubi had a broad smile in his head. 

He felt a surge of relief as he made it back to the clearing. Then he felt his legs give way as he fell to the ground, exhausted. 

Once again, Kyuubi was surprised by its host's potential. _[Naruto, I am amazed. I expected you to collapse and give up before we got to the beach. You got there and back. And in 45 minutes!!]_ There was a burst of red chakra that ran through Naruto's body, easing the pain and giving him more energy. 

_Thank you, Kyuubi-sensei._

_[Usually I won't do that. This is just a once off, a reward for your excellence.]_ the Demon Fox said with a smile. _[Now do twenty push ups with your fists. Ten push ups with just your fingers. Then fifty normal push ups.]_ Naruto groaned and was opening his mouth to complain. _[FOCUS!]_ Kyuubi roared. 

Naruto nodded. Then put his fists down on the ground and started to do them, once again controlling his thoughts. His fists were red at the end. He then proceeded to do the push ups with his fingers, and then normal ones. His entire arm was in pain. 

_[Very good. Now do two hundred calf raises.]_

_Yes sensei._ Naruto did that. He put his feet flat on the ground, and then went stood on his toes, then back down. His calves were burning at fifty. He only managed one hundred and fifty at the end. 

_[We'll need to work on your calf muscles more. Now get in a hand stand and hold yourself there ten minutes.]_

_Hai._

Their training session continued. After the hand stand, Kyuubi made Naruto hold horse stance for twenty minutes to strengthen his triceps. -((A/N: I had to do this at Kung Fu and I can't even hold it for 4 minutes!!))- Then Naruto punched a tree as hard as he could one hundred times. At the end, the tree had a large red dent in it and Naruto had bleeding knuckles. 

His entire body was in pain. He didn't think he could move. He wanted to just lie down and die... _[Focus! Just one more exercise and then I'll let you rest, despite the fact that we've only trained for three hours. Now I want you to do two hundred crunches. Crunches are like sit ups, except you do them with your feet hanging around a tree branch so your head is pointing to the ground.]_

These were very hard. Naruto struggled very hard just to do two. But after ten, it seemed to become a lot easier. He only ended up doing seventy in the end and his stomach just wouldn't do anything. A frustrated Naruto punched himself in his gut. He was surprised when it didn't hurt at all. His stomach muscles had already hardened. 

_[Warm down. If you don't, you can really end up hurting yourself.]_ Kyuubi warned. Naruto shrugged. Previously, in Ninja Academy, they hadn't really stressed warming down, but from what Kyuubi said, it was important. So he did a few stretches, went for a light jog and went back to the cave. 

He just fell over, onto his 'bed'. 

He let off a groan. He felt so relieved that he had finished. He finally let his mind wander, which felt great, as well as just lying there, doing nothing. He never though he'd be so happy to just laze around... _I'm starting to sound like Shikamaru..._

Blaze walked in. He looked at Naruto. _{You look you've been attacked by some crazy animal.}_ The kit said. 

Naruto gave a small grin. "Worse...Kyuubi was training me..." 

"So I guess playing with me is out of the question, right?" the fox said asking disappointedly. 

"Hai..." Naruto's stomach growled. "I'm so hungry. And I don't just want some fruits. I wish I could have some ramen..." 

Blaze seemed to brighten up. _"I can go get some! I'm good at hunting!"_

Naruto grinned. "You go do that kit. Thanks." 

Blaze gave a happy growl and then charged out of the cave again, in search for some food. 

Naruto lay back and closed his eyes when he felt Flame's tail brush passed him. _"Hello human."_

"Hey Flame." Naruto said. 

_"He's hasn't ever been this happy before..."_ Flame said referring to her son. _"He really likes you."_

Naruto smiled at this. "He's a nice guy...er...fox. I knew someone about his age in human years at my old home. He was annoying. Blaze is cool." Naruto said remembering Konohamaru and his two 'sidekicks'. 

Flame gave a menacing growl. _"Listen, kid, and listen well. If you betray or hurt Blaze in anyway, I will rip your throat open. I think you are a good person, but despite that, if you hurt him, I will kill you. Got that?"_

Naruto flinched, then nodded mutely. "I'd never hurt him...intentionally at least..." 

Flame seemed to calm down. She gave a 'foxy' smile. _"Good. You will be a good friend for him, I know it."_

Blaze ran into the cave. _"Hey! I caught one! I caught one!"_ The kit said, jumping up and down, a dead rabbit at its feet. 

Naruto smiled. Blaze and Flame...he had only known them for a day, but they were like the family he never had...   
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* * *

Now that most of you don't know anything about Japanese. Here's a glossary of the Japanese terms I am using in this story:   
  
. Ohayo – Good Morning   
Gomen – Declining, Your Pardon  
Onegai – Please   
Ryoukai – Comprehension, Roger  
Ninjutsu – The art of Ninjas, the art of 'Stealth/Invisibility'  
Taijutsu – The art of 'The Body (Hand-to-Hand combat)'  
Nani – What   
Arigatou – Thank You  
Hai – Yes  
Iie – No  
Sensei – teacher  
-sensei – (suffix after a name) title of a teacher   
-chan – (suffix after a name) used when talking to a girl, especially in a caring way.   
-san – (suffix after a name) similar to the title of 'Mr'.   
-kun – (suffix after a name) used when talking to a boy.  
-sama – (suffix after a name) used for someone of higher status. Etc, teacher.   
Sannin – San = 3, nin = ninja So it means 3 ninja and in this case, the legendary 3.  
Kuso/Chikusho – Damn/Damnit/Shit  
Ryu – Fighting Style, School Dobe – Drop out/Loser  
Baka – Idiot, fool, dumbass  
Kitsune – Fox  
Kyuubi – (Demon Fox of) Nine Tails  
Kata – Style  
Kaiten – Whirl (Neji's attack)  
Sennin – Hermit  
Ryuuko – Dragon and Tiger - Two great rivals  
Kyoujaku – Strength, power  
Jutsu – Literally means 'The art of'. Used for most techniques in Naruto.  
Kage Buunshin – "Shadow Replication" (Kage = Shadow, Buunshin – Replication)  
Hentai – pervert, perversion, anime-porn ;-)  
Yaoi – homosexual male-male relationship  
Yuri – homosexual girl-girl reltationship  
  
In Japanese, the surname comes before the first name. Eg Sakura (first name) and Haruno (last name), would be Sakura Haruno in English and Haruno Sakura in Japanese.   
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If you want to contact me, do so on:  
  
**AIM:** Kyp Jarik  
**MSN:** (I tend to use this more)   
  
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	3. Chapter III

**:: Ascension ::**  
_By Jarik Tentsu_

  
  
**Genre: **Action/Adventure/Romance  
**Rating: **R – Violence, Possible Sex, Course Language  
**Pairings: ** Naruto/Sakura, Itachi/OC, Kyuubi(female, human form)/Sasuke, Kurenai/Iruka, Tsunade/Jiraiya, Gaara/Hinita and other unimportant ones  
**Description: **Naruto leaves Konoha because he has decided he can learn better from a different teacher...Kyuubi!? A new demonic enemy and unlikely allies. Naruto/Sakura, Itachi/OC, Kurenai/Iruka and more! NON YAOI/YURI  
**Disclaimer: ** I don't own Naruto...unfortunately  
**Author's Note: **Episode 81 and 82 were awesome. Btw, added in heaps of new pairings. I've had some requests from people. This will prolly be longer than I thought... Sorry for taking so long to finish this chap guys. I'll try to get more up more often.

* * *

**Reviews**  
  
**Gopu:** Thanks  
**Hattuteline:** Thanks. I have put some thought into the story. I have this thing about making cool 'scenes' in my head, that later turn into stories. Whenever I'm not doing anything, I'm usually watching 'scenes' from Ascension in my mind lol. Lame I know =P. Akira will become a big part of the second part of the story. I needed a villain about Naruto's level (he's gonna be able to kick Orochimaru's ass later on). About the Japanese, what you're saying makes sense, I just love the language .  
**Morsamare:** Damn, damn, damn. I didn't think this chapter through enough. I kinda rushed it. I'll fix it up in later chaps. Naruto has these 'lapses' of tactical brilliance, but usually, he's kinda idiotic. Like running into fights, showing off (you see that on the battle against Zabazune (sp?) and Haku on the bridge, where he looses his element of surprise to 'showing off'.   
**Zsych:** Hmm. 100-1 method doesn't work for me usually --. Some forms of self hypnosis can be hard though. I guess your right about the self confidence thing. I guess the flinching was more of surprise. I mean, a cute little fox, suddenly looking scary and murderish.  
**Godai:**Thanks. About the tactical thing, look at my reply to Morsamare's review.  
**Bass Clef:**I'll fix that up next update. Thanks for informing me.  
**TopQuark: **Thanks. Blaze and Flame are cool . I'll add more scenes from Konoha if you'd like.  
**DrazenFlames:**Thanks. Blaze and Flame are like his family now (and no, Blaze is not like a 'son' and Flame is not like a 'wife') Blaze is like a younger brother and Flame is like a mother.   
**PHreek-boi:** My friend told me. Well I didn't mean for the name to be like that. When I created it, it was from scratch.  
**Inu-Chan:** Thanks .  
**omnidragon89:** Thanks.  
**Lady Light:** Heh. It'll be funny at the idea that foxes are actually intelligent. Thanks for the review.  
**FruitTea:** She'll live with Sasuke. He does own a mansion of the Uchiha clan. As friends of course. ;-)  
**Zekkyu:** He'll become very strong by human standards. I'll think about the aging thing.   
**Jace:** Well she's gonna live with Sasuke currently, but later on, there will be a reunion.  
**Frank Careda:** Once again, thanks for the review . Japanese is undoubtedly the coolest language ever!! To clear something up Ki and Chi are exactly the same. Ki – Japanese word. Chi/Qi – Chinese word. Chakra is not actually an energy, rather a name for 7 Chi focus points in the body. From the top to bottom, Crown Chakra, Brow Chakra (Third Eye), Throat Chakra, Heart Chakra, Solar Plexus Chakra, Dan Tien Chakra (Hara in Japanese, one of the most important ones) and Root Chakra. At least that how it is in real life. I doubt Akira Toriyama wanted to make another anime with 'ki' as the energy force, or it would seem like a rip off of DBZ, so he changed it to Chakra.  
**Animewatcher:** She's off to train with Sasuke for the upcoming war .  
**Dragon89:** I don't intend to abandon this fic. I mean, I'd prolly be killed off by angry fans lol. Just kinda busy...  
**xxSilverWingxx:** Thanks for the review dude.  
**Draoland:**I'll try to update more often. You can count on me guys . Classic? I feel so proud =D.  
**Robin:** Hmmm...I'll build em up more...

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**Chapter 3**

Naruto awoke. He couldn't move. Every muscle in his body was hurting. He started panicking and began looking around desperately. Every time he moved his head, pain jolted across the muscles in his neck. 

_[Calm down kit! You pushed yourself hard yesterday, your muscles are just rebuilding themselves.] _Kyuubi's voice said soothingly. 

The blonde haired boy gave a small nod, then fell back asleep. 

Sasuke heard a knock on his door. He went to it, annoyed, expecting a fangirl...or fanboy... He cringed at the thought. 

It was Sakura – close enough. She had come often to his house, begging for dates and such. But this time, her eyes were red and swollen. She had been crying again. He raised an eyebrow questioningly. 

"I left." She said simply. 

"What do you mean?" 

"I left the house. I told my parents I wouldn't live in a house with murderers. I hate them." She spat. 

"No you don't." The black haired shinobi said calmly. "They're your parents. No matter what they do, you will still love them." He looked a bit dazed as he remembered his parents who always had impossible expectations of him. He had said he hated them quite a few times, but hadn't meant it. Then they had died... 

"Listen Sasuke, I don't have a place to stay. You've got more than enough space here...can I please stay here?" Sakura said blushing slightly. Sasuke seemed to tense. "As friends." The pink haired girl said. 

Sasuke thought for a bit, then gave a nod. 

Naruto was definitely improving. In a week, he was able to do all the physical training Kyuubi wanted him to do, without collapsing. He could sprint to the beach and back in less than fifteen minutes. He could do three hundred crunches. His fists were able to punch the tree five hundred times as hard as they could go, and all he got was a few scratches. When he woke up in the next morning, his muscles only ached a bit, and it was still bearable. 

Kyuubi then proceeded to teach Naruto another form of meditation where he took deeper breaths and counted from 100-1 with each breath, clearing his mind completely. Then he could focus his thoughts more thoroughly and train harder. 

They had formed a sort of 'schedule' to train with. Naruto would wake up at about 5:00am, and begin with about half an hour of meditation. Then he'd do three hours of heavy physical work out. After that, he and the two foxes would have breakfast. Then from nine o'clock to six o'clock, there'd be non stop Taijutsu training for nine hours. 

To Naruto's disappointment, Kyuubi still refused to teach him any new, cool jutsus, but he was beginning to see the point of training the basics first. 

He still wasn't any where near as good as Lee in taijutsu, but he was nearly Neji's level. 

Kyuubi was teaching him five different styles. The first was the Kyoujaku Kata. Kyoujaku meant strength and power. It was a style that relied heavily on physical strength and concentrated on continuously striking the opponent until he was down. It was also the easiest to master. 

The second was Takagi Yoshin Ryu. It was made by a man named Takagi and was specialized in throws, rolls and locks. 

Kitsune Kata was one based off a fox. Kyuubi had a lot of knowledge in this one. He had mentioned that it wasn't very popular and had been forgotten a while ago. This one used deceit and trickery to its advantage and was also big on agility. 

There was of course, Togakure Ryu, which was the one that Konoha taught. It was known for its great body guarding capabilities and focused on fighting multiple people and taking them down quickly, and effectively while protecting something. It was also famous for its concealed weapon skills such as kunai, shruiken, poison and a few others. 

Ryuuko Kata was the final one. It meant Dragon-Tiger Style. The dragon style of taijutsu was known for incorporating chakra into its attacks and was similar to the Hyuuga style of taijutsu. Tiger style was known for its boldness and offensiveness, always keeping the opponent in defense. It was a very traditional art and very hard to master. 

_'Hey sensei. Question. How do you know all these martial arts anyway? They're meant for humans.'_ Naruto asked. 

_[Demons usually have two or more forms. A humanoid form and a 'monster' form. We only use our 'monster' form when we are in a battle; otherwise we use our humanoid form, but we all learn how to fight in our human form anyway, just in case we do not have enough chakra to complete the transformation and stay there. Transforming and staying transformed take a lot of chakra.]_ Kyuubi answered. 

_'Really? So you have a human form as well? What do you look like?'_ Naruto asked, curiously. 

_[I could show you an image.]_ Kyuubi said. _[Close your eyes, kit.]_

Naruto shut his eyes. He saw an image of a person flash in front of him. He was definitely surprised at what he saw. 

He had imagined Kyuubi's human form as a large, bulky man covered in scars or look something monstrous like Kisame. 

Instead he was staring at the figure of a beautiful woman, looking around her early twenties. She had medium length brownish-red hair. Strangely enough, she had a fox's tail that flowed out from behind her. The most surprising thought ran through Naruto's mind. 

_'You're...you're a girl!'_

_[Five points to Naruto.]_ Kyuubi said sarcastically. _[In my full demon form, I don't have a gender, though I may act more like a 'male' because of aggressive battle hormones. But yes, in my human form, I am female.]_

Naruto was still trying to let the information sink in when Kyuubi talked again. _[This doesn't change the fact that I am still your sensei. Now, to the beach and back!]_

_[Yes...Kyuubi-CHAN.]_ Naruto said snidely. 

Kyuubi let out a deep, menacing growl. _[GO!!]_ Naruto cringed. 

_[HAI!]_

Sakura looked around at the room Sasuke had given her. It was one of the guest rooms, for when important people from places other than Konoha came and visited. It had a large, fancy bed and everything in the room looked expensive. She had her own ensuite, which was so fancy, Sakura was wondering why one would need a toilet this expensive. 

She had known that the Uchiha clan used to be one of the most powerful and oldest clans in Kohoha, even more so than the Hyuuga clan and that they must have been very rich, but she was unprepared for what she saw. The Uchiha grounds were even bigger than the stadium the final part of the Chuunin exam took part in. 

There were five guest rooms, a master bedroom, two smaller bedroom and two servants' quarters. The house was full of grand hallways with chandeliers and large paintings all over the wall. The kitchen looked like it was from an expensive restaurant. The front garden had a large, tall wall surrounding it, then some fancy hedges as well as a large fountain. The back garden had a sparring arena and a large training ground. They had as good facilities as the ninja academy! 

Sasuke lived alone. The only servants he allowed in were a monthly gardener and a weekly cleaner. Other than that, all the other servants had long since left. He cooked his own food, which was nothing gourmet, just normal, simple, healthy meals. 

How Sasuke could survive being alone in a place like this, Sakura couldn't imagine. She could probably get lost in the mansion and not be found for days. Okay, maybe that was an exaggeration, but the mansion was still huge. 

Living with Sasuke was every girls dream, even hers. She still liked the black haired genin...a lot. Before, it had been a pure crush, now, after knowing him for so long, it had developed into much more. She wouldn't call it love, but it was definitely strong like. 

But she respected Sasuke's wishes. When Naruto had gone, it had made her think about their relationship more. Sasuke hated the fact that she was acting 'annoying' all the time, as Naruto was acting to her. If Naruto had calmed down and just acted friendly to her, then maybe she wouldn't have always been so angry at him. Did Sasuke feel that way? 

Naruto leaving had strangely had an effect on him. He had opened up to Sakura more. Letting her move in with him was a big step. That contrast was almost as much as Naruto going from dead-last at the academy to beating Neji at the finals. 

Sasuke trained every day, almost all day. She would only really see him at meals and at short times during the day. It made her realize how much she didn't train. She trained for about two or three hours a day and that was all, while Sasuke trained for about eight or so hours a day. It was no wonder he was so strong. 

If she wanted to become a Chuunin and stop hiding behind her two teammates like she had done so many times before and actually be of use to the team and not just a burden, she would have to start training properly. 

"Sasuke-kun." She said one day during dinner. 

"Yes?" 

"Can you train me?" 

The last survivor of the Uchiha clan blinked, looking surprised then smiled and said. "Okay." 

Tsunade looked at the ninjas assembling in front of her in the great hall. Genin, chuunin and jounin. 

She looked across at the shinobi she recognised. Uchiha Sasuke was waiting patiently, staring at nothing in particular, as usual. Haruno Sakura was standing next to him. She had heard about her leaving her parents' house and moving in with them. She had wondered why...until she looked up the records and saw the campaign about Naruto. No matter what, she would make Sakura's parents' lives hell. At least until they admitted they were wrong. 

She saw Jiraiya from the corner of her eye standing in a dark corner, looking across the audience, for once not perving on women. Some ANBU members supervised the meeting, stationed at various points across the hall. 

There was Konohamaru and his two friends who had all become genins and had requested being in the same team together, which she had granted. Shikamaru, the only one who had become a Chuunin in the last exam, stood, looking bored, as usual next to his teammates Ino and Chouji. The girl was admiring her hair and the fat boy was eating from his seemingly endless supply of chips. 

As the last ninjas walked in she called everyone to her attention. 

"Ninja of Konoha. Dark times lay ahead of us. On a first note, we are currently at war with Orochimaru and all allies he has. This includes sound, grass and possibly others. Our most powerful ally, Sand is recovering from a surprise attack Sound made while they were attacking us. Both of our villages are in ruins and our other allies are less powerful. For those who do not know, Orochimaru used to be my teammate, now is ranked as the most dangerous S-class criminal there is. He was the mastermind behind the attack against Leaf and is the murderer of the Third Hokage." There were murmurs among the audience. 

"Secondly, we also have a serious danger from the increasing threat of the Akatsuki criminal organisation. It has nine members, each of which is an S-ranked criminal." She saw Sasuke tense at this. Most of the audience, however, hadn't heard of the Akatsuki, except for the jounins, who would brief their teams later. "Thirdly, our village is still in ruins. Many of our other main suppliers are increasing the prices of their exports due to bandits attacking their convoys. This couldn't have come at a better time. Our income has been hit pretty bad and we may not be able to afford luxuries. We may have to stick to simplicities in food. Nothing fancy." 

"On a fourth note, and I'm sure you've heard the rumours, Uzumaki Naruto has left the village." This definitely started a lot of murmurs. "He is now classified as a hidden nin, to be captured, not killed. If it can be avoided, he should come to no harm. The reasons why he left, I can not tell you all, but he primarily went away to train. Despite the fact that a lot of you talk about him as the 'dead-last from the academy', when he really tries, he can be pretty powerful. He did beat Gaara of Sand in a jounin-level fight." The murmurs had become loud talking now. They all remembered Gaara from the finals. And a jounin level fight? Naruto hadn't even become a Chuunin yet. 

"We're at war. Our village has become used to peace, but now we're entering hostile times. All team captains will be training their teams a lot harder than before. All missions will be B ranked or above. No more 'social disturbances' missions to get money. You will be doing missions as ninja were made to do. War. Be prepared to hurt. Be prepared to kill. Be prepared to die. Let us hope that most of us make it alive through all of this. Good night." 

Then the talking began. She took a deep breath as she walked off the stage. Jiraiya walked to her and nodded. "Nice speech. Couldn't have done better myself." 

"How do you think it went?" The fifth hokage asked. 

"As well as it could have. I was prepared for some fights to happen. Or Orochimaru's spies listening in on our conversation..." 

"SPY!" Someone screamed out. A ninja was hiding in the ceiling, looking through a crack. It had been Neji who had seen the two eyes peering over the audience, thanks to his Byuukajan. 

Jiraiya grimaced. "I spoke too soon." 

Two ANBU members automatically sprung into action. One throwing a well aimed kunai into the crack. But the spy was already making a run for it. The two ANBU, Anko and Ibiki, moved outside and quickly cornered the spy. 

Anko smirked. There was no way that the spy could escape now. And after Ibiki interrogated him, they'd find out many of Orochimaru's secrets. The spy was helping them more than it was helping her previous teacher. 

"You're coming with us." She said to the black clad figure. "Surrender and tell us everything you know, and you may survive. Or at least die without too much pain." 

The ninja just smiled. "Surrender is betrayal." He pulled out a tanto, a large dagger in the shape and style of a sword, then plunged it into his abdomen as he committed Seppuku (honourable suicide). Anko blinked for a second, and then sighed with disappointment. 

"Should've expected Orochimaru to do something like train his spies to not regard their own life at all and focus on their mission." The blue haired ANBU said. 

"If he's that smart, he would've had more than one spy here. No doubtable more have already began their trip back to their master." Ibiki said. "There's no chance to catch up to them now. They'll undoubtable go after the Nine t-I mean, Naruto.." 

Back in the assembly hall, the two remnants of Team 7 watched the brief skirmish. They heard what Ibiki had said. Naruto was in danger. Orochimaru was way beyond their level. Even if Naruto became as powerful as a jounin, he wouldn't be able to fight the snake monster. 

The only chance he had was if this 'sensei' of his really was that powerful, maybe he could hold of Orochimaru? 

Sasuke turned to his pink haired team-mate. "Come on Sakura. Let's begin our training." 

Iruka looked down at the ground, ignoring the little skirmish with the spy. Naruto didn't stand a chance. He was stronger than people thought and was improving fast, but to fight the killer of the Third Hokage? That was way beyond him. 

The other thought that plagued his mind was who was Naruto's new sensei? Who could have taught Naruto more than Jiraiya, one of the legendary three? And why was he teaching Naruto? Iruka found it had to believe that someone would just teach Naruto without getting something out of it. 

"You miss him, don't you?" A female voice came from behind him. 

Iruka turned to see Kurenai, one of the jounins looking at him sympathetically. The Chuunin teacher sighed and nodded. "I'm worried about him. He was like a younger brother to me..." 

He was a bit surprised about Kurenai being kind to him. Even though Kurenai was older than him, they had been in academy together for a few years. She had always called him an 'attention-seeking brat'. When he'd graduated to Chuunin and decided to teach, many of his colleges teased him about not even going on missions. 

She smiled to him and then left. He found himself grinning stupidly and shook his head. 

Kurenai felt sorry for Iruka. The younger boy hadn't had a family, and she knew he had become a lot happier whenever Naruto was around, despite the fact that Kyuubi had killed his parents. Seeing him broken hearted like this made her feel sad for him. 

Despite the fact that previously she had hated him for his arrogance and his constant cries for attention, he had now matured to become a teacher, she respected him for that. While many other jounins would look down on him as a 'nursemaid boy', she thought of him as someone teaching the ninjas of the future. 

He had always been a softie. Not really one to want to charge into a battle. She had always thought he was gay, but she could see him grinning from the corner of his eye, which made her begin to wonder. _Iruka needs something to get his mind off Naruto..._

A thought struck her. She began to grin. 

"Hey Iruka. Wanna have dinner with me?" She asked. 

She saw his cheeks go slightly red. "Umm...er..." Definitely not gay. 

"If you're busy, then that's fine." The black haired woman said. 

"Nah, I'm fairly free this evening. I'll come." 

She smirked. 

_[Okay Naruto, now we will be focusing on evades. Your Kage Bunshin no Jutsu is a Jounin level technique, but not because it is hard to master, rather, because using it in a fight effectively is hard. Now I don't deny that sometimes when you use it, it has been very effective, for instance in that fight against the mist-nin where you disguised yourself as a shruiken, however, you must learn how to evade so that your Kage Bunshin's become stronger. The Shadow Replications are disbanded when either your chakra supply runs low, you make them go away or they are damaged. Even a small cut or a bruise will destroy them. This means that in a fight, you cannot rely on blocking, because blocking an enemy's attack will damage your clones, even though just slightly. If you learn how to evade well, your clones will last a lot longer.]_ Kyuubi lectured. 

Naruto nodded, seeing the logic in Kyuubi's point. "So how do my evading? We learnt basic evading in Ninja Academy, but I'm not fast enough and don't have the reflexes to pull em off in a fight..." 

_[Which is why we are going to do the following exercise. Firstly strap those two weights to your legs.]_ Kyuubi said, referring to two weights she had made Naruto create previously. They were not super heavy, like Lee's weights, rather just five kilos each. 

Naruto did so and strapped them to his legs. "Now what?" 

He felt Kyuubi take control of his body. The blonde haired missing-nin's eyes went red. He turned to Blaze, who was watching, looking very bored. "Blaze." 

The Kitsune ears perked up and he stared at the Kyuubi controlled Naruto. 

"Do you want to help Naruto train?" Kyuubi said. 

The kit nodded. "{Hai, hai!}" 

"Okay..." Kyuubi gave a sadistic smile. "I want you to attack Naruto with everything you have." 

Naruto took control again quickly. "NANI!? YOU'RE A CRAZY BITCH!!" The blond haired shouted out as he saw the fox charge at him, trying to bite him with his teeth. He jumped out of the way, only to find his movements had been slowed down by the weights. _Kuso..._

Blaze landed on the ground, then turned around leaping again, taking a swipe with his claws. They sunk into Naruto's arm and drew blood. "ITAI!!" 

"Sorry! Sorry!" The young kitsune apologized, feeling guilty. 

_[Good try. But this goes to prove that in a real fight, you wouldn't stand a chance. Again.]_

They continued the exercise for a few hours. At the end Naruto was bleeding from many spots on his body, but his improvement was apparent. 

_[You can stop. We'll go back to the cave for a break and for you to patch up some of those wounds, and then we'll return.]_

They went back to the cave, all the time Blaze was apologizing over and over again. Naruto smiled. "Don't worry shorty, I am training after all. You're doing me a favour. And hey, you're really good for a kid your age." 

Blaze smiled...well as much as a fox could smile then followed Naruto into the cave. 

They continued training like that for a week and Naruto had become so good, he could make it through an entire training session without a scratch, even with the weights on. 

_[We'll make it even harder now...take off your weights.]_ Kyuubi said. 

"But, won't that make it easier..." the genin said, taking off his weights. "Whoa! I feel so light, I-" He tripped over. 

_[Be careful. Your body has become used to the weights, now whenever you move, your body will put a lot more energy into the movement than is needed and you will overstep, usually losing your balance. And no, it will not be easier.]_ Kyuubi once again, gave a smirk. She took control of his body again. "FLAME!!" He shouted. 

_You can't be thinking..._ Naruto thought. He had seen how fast Flame had moved when taking down her prey. She wasn't a kit like Blaze, but a fully grown fox. He would get a lot more than cuts and bruises if she went full out on him. 

"{You called, Kyuubi-sama?}" Flame said as she walked into the field. 

"I would like you to help Naruto train. Please do what Blaze was doing and attack him quickly." Kyuubi said. 

_CRAZY DEMON FOX BITCH!!!_ Naruto was screaming inside. 

Flame gave a nod. "Very well. I'd like to see how he's progressed." She moved into her pouncing position then turned to her son. "Blaze, you ready?" 

Naruto took control of his body again. "No, no, no!!" He protested. Both foxes ignored him, then pounced at the same time. Flame moved at an incredibly fast speed. _Kuso! I can't dodge that-NANI!?_ He found himself moving to the side subconsciously. 

_[See kit, all that work has paid off. You are extremely fast and you've built up reflexes. When Flame attacked, you didn't even have to think about dodging it, you did it automatically because you have spent so much time practicing it.]_

Naruto then began to smirk. Kyuubi was right. He felt so good, being able to dodge that fast. "Bring it on!" He said in his usual cocky self. 

Flame charge forward with a slash, which Naruto jumped back. The fox followed up with another slash with her other claw which the blonde haired genin rolled away from. He looked up to see two jaws moving towards his head which he dodged with a back flip. 

Then he felt a searing pain through his back. He turned around to see a happy Blaze. _Kuso, kuso, kuso!!!_

_[You became cocky. He didn't think and forgot about Blaze. Those kind of mistakes can mean death in a real battle for you or your team-mates. First rule; never EVER get cocky in a fight. Always be prepared for the unexpected and don't show off. Take out an enemy quickly and efficiently because he can always have a secret technique or ally that will take you out if you don't take him out quickly. And don't use your most powerful techniques first, or you will lose an advantage. You WANT to appear weaker than you are. Fame and acknowledgement from the general crowd don't matter and can in fact be a bad thing, something you still have to learn.]_ the demon fox said. 

Naruto stared, letting the words sink in. Then nodded. 

_[We'll try that again, this time, use a Shadow Replication. Let us see how long it lasts without being destroyed.]_

Sasuke threw a punch at his training partner, who blocked it and proceeded with a left roundhouse kick which Sasuke ducked under. Sakura continued the spin and jumped up into the air, moving into the double spinning roundhouse kick. 

Sasuke then pulled a small shruiken out of his pocket and threw it at Sakura, who rolled out of the way then returned with a kunai. 

But Sasuke moved quickly behind her and brought a kunai to her throat. 

"Good try." Sasuke said, lowering the kunai. "You're improving, but you shouldn't rely so much on one technique. You should always be ready to block or dodge, even in offence. Balance yourself more." 

Sakura nodded. 

Sasuke nodded. "Now I will teach you Grand Fireball no Jutsu." 

Sakura grinned. Now the interesting stuff... 

Kurenai sat next to Iruka in the Ramen bar friendly making conversation. She could say one thing – the Chuunin sucked when it came to girls. 

He continuously stuttered and blushed half the time. She just rolled her eyes. It was a change from Asuma and Kakashi who just couldn't seem to keep their perverted ideas out of their minds. 

The teenager girl who worked at the bar smiled at Iruka. "Well Iruka you've never brought in a girlfriend before! Usually you just come with Naruto, where is he anyway?" 

Kurenai saw his face sadden a bit when the topic of Naruto came up. "Naruto...he left the village." Kurenai gave him a warning look. The civilian population weren't meant to know yet. 

The girl did amazingly not jump up in the air shouting 'hooray' like most of the Konohans would have. She looked genuinely sad. "Oh..." She said, then walked away. 

Kurenai stood up. "Come on Iruka, I'll walk you to your apartment." 

They both walked neither speaking. Iruka definitely had his thoughts focused around Naruto. What he didn't seem to realize was that the boy would be fine. That's what she thought. He could take care of himself, plus he had a teacher who was at least as good as Jiraiya. 

He needed to stop worrying. And she had the perfect plan. 

They walked down the street to the apartment block that Iruka lived in. He went to the door and opened it. He turned gratefully to Kurenai. "Thank you for tonight." 

_Well, now or never._ Then without warning, Kurenai pressed her lips against his. His eyes widened and he dropped his keys. The dark haired Jounin shut the door with her feet then continued kissing the startled Chuunin over and over again. 

"K-K-Kurenai...?" Iruka squeaked. 

She just smiled, then fell onto the bed and pulled him with her. His face was as red as it could get. She brought him close and whispered into his ear something that would have been every man's dream. 

"Iruka-san...make love to me..." 

Naruto had improved enormously. He'd mastered Kyoujaku Kata, Takagi Yoshin Ryu and Togakure Ryu taijutsus and was very confident in them. Though Kyuubi did say, one could never truly 'perfect and master' and art, he would have been able to use the arts fully in a fight. Now all he had to learn was Kitsune and Ryuuko Katas. 

_[We'll start off with Ryuuko Kata first. I very well doubt you'll be able to master it to the level you've mastered the other three arts, because this is very hard to perfect. However, the few techniques you do learn will be very useful in battle.]_ Kyuubi said. 

_[Firstly, the two primary stances for Ryuuko are obvious. Dragon Stance and Tiger Stance. Show me them.]_ Kyuubi had previously taught Naruto all the stances that he would be using. 

Naruto first moved into the Dragon stance. It was a very deep stance, the legs were far away from each other one forward and one bent, pointing to the side, most of the body weight on the back one. His whole body was leaning backwards with his arms behind him, the left one about twenty centimetres below the right one, both the palms facing each other. The stance wasn't only based on the physical aspect either. Naruto moved his chakra into his hands and into the space between them, creating a sort of invisible 'ball' of chakra. He then drew most of it into his arms and back foot. 

_[Well done. Just be careful about your front leg, if it's too far in front, you're unbalanced. Now Tiger.]_

The tiger stance was medium deep. The feet weren't too far away from each other compared to the Dragon style. Once again, the left foot was pointing forwards, and the right was pointing at a forty five degree angle backwards. The left arm was held out in front, relaxed and slightly bent. The fingers were slightly curled, as if it was a claw. The right arm came around underneath the left arm, pointing to the left, also in the half curled position. The tiger stance was also based heavily on Chakra control. He got the chakra flowing from his left arm to his right and back again. 

_[Perfect. Now basic strikes in Ryuuko are pretty complicated. You usually attack open handed, like the Hyuuga clan. Attacking from the Tiger stance would mean while the chakra is flowing, attack with the arm where the chakra is flowing to. When contact is made, you send a burst of chakra out of your arm and into your opponents chakra reserve. This goes around and damages their chakra. Very, very similar to what the Hyuuga Clan uses. They use the Dragon style, though being rich and stuck up, they call it their own style when in fact, and it was made up centuries ago. The dragon style is attacking with both palms at the same time. The chakra you gather in between your palms is focused just before the point of contact, then 'pushed' into your opponents as a destructive force. Now try both attacks.]_

Naruto did try, and it was a lot harder than it seemed to be. The amount of chakra control needed was something even Sakura would find fairly hard. It required exact timing, precise focusing and your mind had to be thinking about many things at once. 

After over two hundred tries, only one actually succeeded and that was a fluke. Naruto was out of energy, both his and Kyuubi's, so they decided to have a rest. 

Flame and Blaze joined them. They began eating in silence, and then Flame asked a question. "{Kyuubi-sama, I was curious. What is Kryton like?}" The mother fox asked. 

Naruto's eyes changed red as Kyuubi took control of the body. "Originally, I lived in the North of Kryton, before Akira took control of that area. I live with my father – my mother had died. It was a peaceful village; my father was the only warrior there. The forest surrounding us was very similar to this place, except everything was bigger." 

Naruto's face hardened. "Then my father got power hungry. He left the village, always returning with the scent of blood all over his clothes. When I asked him what he had done, he would hit me and tell me to go away. He got a following, and killed everyone in the village, except me, who escaped." Even though they were Naruto's eyes, Kyuubi's sorrow could be seen through them. "My father died that night. He began to take over Kryton and hunt me down. At first he wanted to kill me because he saw me as a disappointment – a weakling. But I fought all his followers. He changed his mind and wanted me to join him. I hate him." Flame began to nod in realization. Blaze and Naruto was still clueless. "It is as you think, Flame." 

"My father's name is Akira."

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Sorry for taking so long to update ppl. I was really busy and couldn't find the time. Once again, you guys are prolly confused as hell lol.

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Now that most of you don't know anything about Japanese. Here's a glossary of the Japanese terms I am using in this story:   
  
Gomen – Declining, Your Pardon  
Ryoukai – Comprehension, Roger  
Ninjutsu – The art of Ninjas, the art of 'Stealth/Invisibility'  
Taijutsu – The art of 'The Body (Hand-to-Hand combat)'  
Nani – What   
Arigatou – Thank You  
Hai – Yes  
Iie – No  
Sensei – teacher  
-sensei – (suffix after a name) title of a teacher   
-chan – (suffix after a name) used when talking to a girl, especially in a caring way.   
-san – (suffix after a name) similar to the title of 'Mr'.   
-kun – (suffix after a name) used when talking to a boy.  
-sama – (suffix after a name) used for someone of higher status. Etc, teacher.   
Kuso/Chikusho – Damn/Damnit/Shit  
Dobe – Drop out/Loser  
Baka – Idiot, fool, dumbass  
Kitsune – Fox  
Kyuubi – (Demon Fox of) Nine Tails  
Kata – Style  
Kaiten – Whirl (Neji's attack)  
Sennin – Hermit  
Ryuuko – Dragon and Tiger - Two great rivals  
Kyoujaku – Strength, power  
Jutsu – Literally means 'The art of'. Used for most techniques in Naruto.  
Kage Buunshin – "Shadow Replication" (Kage = Shadow, Buunshin – Replication)  
Hentai – pervert, perversion, anime-porn ;-)  
Yaoi – homosexual male-male relationship  
Yuri – homosexual girl-girl reltationship  
  
In Japanese, the surname comes before the first name. Eg Sakura (first name) and Haruno (last name), would be Sakura Haruno in English and Haruno Sakura in Japanese.   
  
If you want to contact me, do so on:  
  
**AIM:** Kyp Jarik  
**MSN:** kypjarikhotmail.com (I tend to use this more)   
  



	4. Chapter IV

**:: Ascension ::**  
_By Jarik Tentsu_

  
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**Genre: **Action/Adventure/Romance/Angst  
**Rating: **PG-13, but may become R later – Violence, Possible Sex, Course Language, Dark Themes  
**Description: **Naruto leaves Konoha because he has decided he can learn better from a different teacher...Kyuubi!? A new demonic enemy and unlikely allies. Naruto/Sakura, Kyuubi(female, human form)/Sasuke, Itachi/OC, Kurenai/Iruka, Gaara/Hinita and more! NON YAOI/YURI  
**Beta Reader:**Draoldan/GreyWolf   
**Disclaimer: ** I don't own Naruto...unfortunately  
**Author's Note: **Whoa, this story just beat my record for the longest story I've ever written. W00t! Sorry for taking what, 5-6 weeks for this update. I've been busy with exams, then my comp stuffed and I took 3 weeks restoring it to it's original form, then I was busy with other stuff, then I couldn't be bothered etc etc. I'll try to get more chapters out more often. Thanks for understanding =D. is being annoying with their getting rid of multiple line breaks, so now to create a new 'scene', I have to put line break tags with '.'s after them.

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**Reviews**  
.   
**Fruit Tea:**Meh. Gaara's kewl, I don't really like Hinita that much, but Gaara/Hinita's can be interesting. And I can't think of any one else to pair Gaara with.  
**Gopu:** Once again, thanks for the review .  
**Refused:** The KyuuSasu will only come in really later though as will the ItachiOC, so be patient until then .  
**Lady Light:**Thanks .  
**rfgdf:**Nah, I ain't a homophobe and I got nothing against gays (unlike the majority of the population in my school). I just ain't into Yaoi, that's all.  
**poofspoon:**Hmm...maybe I will reduce it to PG-13 until it becomes worse.  
**Dragon89:** Thanks for the review . Some of the pairings will take a while to come in though.   
** Panuru4u:** Hmm...i'll improve my style then .  
**Ghost Dragon:** Thanks for the review.  
**Lost Dream:** Now that's what I call a long review...well thanks! Yeah, I'll try to get more updates in =D. And one of your favourite? I feel so proud .  
**Aaron:** Thanks dude!   
**Korahna:** Thanks for the review  
**Zsych:**Another long review! Hmm...let's see: I like your idea of Akira thinking of Naruto as a son that was better than Kyuubi. Konoha is kinda peaceful. I mean, look at the genins from Sand. They're warriors that kill. Look at Sakura and Ino – spend most of the day acting like normal teenagers. More Kyuubi-Naruto techniques will come in soon. And yeah, you can expect a battle with Akira's soldiers, but that's a bit later on. Thanks for the review!  
**Frank Careda:** My number one fan! You haven't failed to review a chapter yet have you? . Yeah, I was really into Chi/Ki, Astral Projection, Psionics etc. I researched it up heaps. Kendo? Awesome! I do Togakure Ryu Ninjutsu and I've done various kung fu styles as well (though usually just learning from friends and stuff.) and I want to learn kenjutsu or budojutsu in the future. Good point about the Dragon/Hyuuga style.   
**Darren:**Chapter 6 mate. SPOILER: You can expect a cocky Gai and Kakashi vs pissed off Naruto.   
**A Shade of Fire:** Yeah that would have been an idea too .  
**Hyper Yo Yo Boy:** Lol, thanks for the review man!  
**WolfGirl:** Sorry about updating so little, I had exams and all, so I was like, really busy.  
**Flare of Dragon:** I dunno why either, it puts an odd 'twist' to the story.  
**TopQuark:**Thanks .   
**akira:** Thanks .  
**inu-chan:** Yeah, Sakura will improve...she IS living with Konoha's number one rookie right?  
**Shadow Dragom:**This will continue, like I said before, I'm just really busy currently.   
**Kaekeo:**Thanks for the review!  
**Mamoru:** Here's more!  
**Devil's Cry:**Sorry, I've been super busy, read my Author note at the start of this chap. I reckon the Kyuubi/Sasuke pairing will be the coolest pairing too =P  
**Hyper Yo Yo Boy:** Thank's for informing me of that.  
**Mimic12355:**Thanks.  
**Stunlee200:**Thanks for that . I'll try to live up to all you guy's expectations.

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**Chapter 4**

  
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Iruka opened his eyes slowly as the daylight shone upon his face. "Urgh..." He grumbled groggily. 

Groaning, he got out of bed to go get his morning coffee when he realized he was completely naked. 

Being a non-morning person, he sat there for a long while trying to remember why he was naked when he fell back into bed, falling back to sleep. He was drifting off when his alarm clock began beeping loudly. 

He moved his hand towards it, but it fell on something soft and squishy. Iruka frowned, wondering what it was. Poking it in various places, he tried desperately to find out what the squishy mass was. 

"Iruka-kun, I would appreciate it if you stopped squeezing my breasts thanks." A female voice said from next to him. 

The black haired chuunin froze. _Kurenai!_ He immediately pulled his hand away, jumped out of bed and turned to see Kurenai lying on the same bed, also naked. "Sorry! Sorry! Sorry!" 

Kurenai raised an eyebrow. Then she moved her gaze down. Iruka looked down as well, blushed, and then covered himself. 

"You are such a hentai, Iruka-san." Kurenai teased, Iruka just blushed more. 

"Oh well, I better be going now. Gotta train Kiba, Hinita and Shino." Kurenai said. "Trying to get that girl's confidence up. She's as timid as a flower or something, seriously, her abilities are equal to naught if she's always shy in the middle of a battle. You have school as well right?" 

"Y-y-yes..." Iruka stuttered. 

Kurenai grabbed her pants and began pulling them on. "Last night was fun, no?" 

Iruka went redder then a tomato. "Y-y-y-yes..." He mumbled, too busy staring at Kurenai's half-naked body. When he realized he was staring, he quickly looked away, gaining sudden interest in the clouds. 

Kurenai just grinned, pulling on her t-shirt. "Your so cute when you're embarrassed." She pulled him close and gave him a kiss, then whispered. "We should do this again sometime." Then let go and walked out the door. "See ya." 

Iruka just stood there, grinning stupidly for a long time, then looked at the clock realizing he had to go to teach at the Ninja Academy in less than an hour. He jumped up, had a short (cold) shower, put on some clothes and ran out the door. 

On his way to school, he (literally) ran into Kakashi. SMASH! The two bodies slammed into each other as both people were thrown in opposite directions. "Oww...my head...Iruka, watch where you're going next time." Kakashi said. 

"You're meant to be the jounin around here! If I was an enemy, you'd have been dead by now..." His gaze moved down to Kakashi's hand where he was holding a book clearly labelled Icha Icha Paradise with a half naked woman on the front cover. "Oh, that explains everything." He said rolling his eyes. 

"Well, you better get going, I believe your class started 5 minutes ago. I've got to meet up with Asuma and Kurenai for a meeting with the Hokage." Iruka blushed slightly at Kurenai's name. Kakashi raised an eyebrow. "I've got a question though." 

"Y-Yeah?" 

"How is she?" 

"W-What?!" 

"How's Kurenai in bed?" 

"KAKASHI!!!!!" Iruka shouted in embarresment. Kakashi just smirked and walked away, completely engrossed in his book once again. 

Iruka groaned, then looked at his watch. _Shit!!_   
  
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"NANI!?" Naruto exclaimed. "You're kidding me, right?" 

_[Iie. Akira is-was my father.]_ Kyuubi said. 

"That is so stuffed up!" Naruto said. "So you're off to go and kill your father. Great family you've got there." 

_[SHUT UP! He was no longer my father the minute he murdered our village. You wouldn't understand what it was like, watching the person you loved the most turn into the most evil thing in both our dimensions. At least your father died protecting you...]_ Kyuubi shouted angrily as Naruto hit a nerve. 

Naruto paused. "You knew my father?" 

_[Of course I knew him! He sealed me in you!]_

"He what? Wait a second...that'd make my father..." 

_[...the Fourth Hokage, yes.]_

Naruto was simply at loss for words. The fourth Hokage, his FATHER!? His father was a hero and one of the best ninja ever? This was the first thing he had ever known about his father, no one told him anything until now. _My father...Hokage...maybe my dream to become the strongest shinobi in Konoha isn't so farfetched after all!_

"Did you know my mother?" Naruto asked. 

He could feel Kyuubi tense inside him. There was a hesitation then _[Yes.]_

Naruto's eyes brightened and he began his demands. "Who was she? What was her name? Was she also Shinobi? Was she also strong? Tell me!" 

_[Not now...later...]_ Kyuubi said, deceptiveness and guilt laced all over her words, but Naruto decided to leave it alone, frowning. 

_Why wouldn't she want me to know about my mother?_   
  
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Sakura and Sasuke looked over the audience that had gathered for the Chuunin exam. There were many familiar faces as well as many new ones. There were a lot more here than there was last here. Probably because of the fact that the previous year, only one had made Chuunin, therefore there were genin from last year and genin from this year. 

Once again Konoha had offered to host the tournament. Same as last year, but this time it was different. There was a serious air to the place. Even those who were joking and laughing were not here for play. With his genin eyes he could already make out at least ten ANBU patrolling the area. They would no doubt not let anyone out of their sight, including the jounin instructors. 

The genin from last year weren't as cocky anymore. Those that had suffered defeat were now studying their opponents while last year, they were just boasting about how good they were. Of course, this did not apply to this year's genins. Konohamaru was as distracted as ever, going on about his secret techniques and pretty much telling everyone exactly how to counter them. But despite not knowing the younger kid personally, Sasuke noticed he seemed less energetic as before. Was it because Naruto left? 

Sakura definitely was acting different. She had a more warrior air of her rather than that of a high school girl. She no longer wore bright, fancy clothes, rather, dark and strong clothing that would not tear. She had her hands in her pockets, resting on her kunai and was busy studying the new genins. A year ago she was pestering Sasuke about a date. 

People who had actually called Naruto things like 'dobe' to his face seemed to miss him. The people who just ignored him seemed euphoric he was gone. Those that actually knew him didn't hate him. But they hadn't exactly made it an effort to tell him that- 

"Where is Uzumaki Naruto?" A chilling voice came from his left. Sasuke looked to the side and immediately flinched. 

There was the trio from sand. Temari, Konkouru and Gaara. Sakura involuntarily took a step back in fear. _I will not fear him…I will not fear him…I will not fear him!_ "Why do you want him?" Sasuke said in an equally cold voice. 

They both stared at each other in the eye, both with cold expressions. Everyone close by seemed to be watching the icy staring contest and the air was tense. Gaara blinked and let the cold expression drop. "I just want to wish him good luck...and offer him my thanks..." The second part was barely audible, but Sasuke and Sakura heard it. They blinked in surprise. Everyone else did as well. The evil sand demon wanting to say good luck to the village idiot? 

Sasuke sighed. "He's not here. He left. He's a missing nin." He saw the ANBU members tense for saying something classified, especially to someone who had been an enemy merely a year before. He would no doubt get a scolding later on. 

"Oh." Was all the sand warrior said, and then continued walking. 

"Why the hell would you want to talk to that drop out anyway? Aren't you meant to be the strongest genin here?" A voice said. Gaara turned to see Neji facing him. _Damn Hyuuga..._

"That 'drop out' beat me." Gaara said and then walked away, leaving many astounded faces staring at him.   
  
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_[Naruto. We'll begin jutsu and chakra training now.]_ This was followed by a whoop from Naruto. _[Firstly, we must get your control up. You were able to do it for the Rasengan, however, for that you were controlling your chakra for one specific jutsu. You must perfect your chakra manipulation to the point that if Jiraiya taught you Rasengan from scratch again, you'd be able to master it in less then a day.]_

_[The one thing with leaf shinobi's is you don't tend to do this in order. You only really started practicing chakra manipulation while learning the Rasengan rather than when you were younger. This is because you are not taught well in the academy.]_

Naruto spoke back coldly. "Are you saying Iraku-sensei couldn't teach?" 

_[Yes.]_ There was an angry animalistic growl from Naruto. _[I am not saying he wasn't a good person, but he wasn't fit for teaching a ninja class. He wasn't able to control you. In a place like say, Sand Village, if you pulled all the pranks you had pulled, you would probably have been beaten to near the point of death then tortured to stop you from doing it ever again. Ikaru of course, is too nice to do this. The best teachers are those that do not like to put their students through pain, but realize that they must do it for the student to learn.]_

Naruto pondered a bit. It was true Iraku had almost no control over his class. People slept, ate and basically created chaos every time he was teaching. 

_[Well anyway, back to the chakra control. Firstly I want you to get into a form of mediation of your choice. Not too deep like trance meditation, but not too light either.]_

Naruto nodded and then sat down. He closed his eyes and then began to clear his mind off all thoughts. He focused on his breath and relaxed his body. To him, nothing else existed except him. 

After about twenty minutes, Kyuubi spoke again. _[Now begin trying to notice your chakra meridians. Meridians are the pipes that your chakra flows through. Try to 'feel' them and the whole chakra circulatory system, including the seven limiters. To be in control of what chakra you mold outside your body, you must also notice the chakra inside your body.]_

Naruto didn't understand at first, but tried nevertheless. He could sort of 'feel' it. It wasn't like touching something physically, but more of knowing it was there and 'feeling' the chakra move around. He was able to map his entire system and felt like he had complete control over everything there. The blond haired genin even found the barrier between his chakra and Kyuubi's chakra. It was over his hara, where the seal was. It was like a gate, one side was full of blue chakra, and the other was overloaded with red chakra. 

_[If you do all your techniques from here, they will be a lot more effective and easier to do. The only thing you must watch out for is that when you are controlling the chakra and how it moves inside your body, you have to be aware of its limits. When you are doing a technique, but just using whatever chakra comes out of your body, your subconscious automatically tries to keep your chakra in check, making sure you don't fall unconscious or in a worse case scenario, die. In this kind of meditation, your subconscious has less control, so you'll have to make sure you have enough chakra left over to keep your body alive. Also make sure that it circulates to different organs rather than just a few.]_ Kyuubi explained and surprisingly, Naruto actually understood some of what she was saying. _[Now I want you to just pool your chakra into a sphere above your hand. From there I want you to make it do things. Change shape, form letters, move around and other random things.]_

"What kind of technique is this?" Naruto asked. 

_[It is just an exercise to improve your chakra manipulation. Try to use the least chakra you can while doing each technique. This means manipulating it in a way that no chakra gets wasted.]_

Naruto nodded than began to work. It was harder than he thought. While executing a technique, he usually just poured a huge amount of chakra into it so even though his manipulation wasn't very precise, the technique would still work and the left over chakra would just dissipate. But trying to mold the chakra using just a small amount was extremely hard. 

Making a sphere was fairly easy because of his practice with rasengan. But making other shapes and moving them around was proving difficult. 

He kept up his routine. Waking up, warming up, working out, training in taijutsu, then sitting down and manipulating chakra. Even though in the start he knew almost nothing, Naruto being Naruto mastered it in two weeks. He could have ten complex objects made of chakra moving around in different directions with him in complete control and no chakra lost. 

_[You have a huge store of chakra. When I add mine to yours it becomes massive. However, your body cannot hold this much chakra and when using it, most of the chakra leaks out and is wasted in the air, creating a fireworks display around you.]_ Naruto remembered his fight with Neji and the red aura that surrounding him while he used Kyuubi's chakra. _[Now, we can make that chakra useful. If you can control the chakra to surround you externally, but stay there, it means you can make techniques using this chakra rather than wasting it. It would also mean that the amount of chakra you could draw would be doubled, because now you can draw from inside and outside.]_

Naruto began practicing this technique. Kyuubi would send a surge of chakra into Naruto's system, which he would then push out into the air around him, forming an aura of flames. With that he began using techniques he already knew except using the external chakra. The blonde haired shinobi realized that he had improved dramatically since the chakra training. He was able to create a rasengan in half the time, using half the chakra and it was twice as powerful. 

_[I must say, you are truly amazing Naruto to have gotten this far so fast. Now we'll move onto the thing that you have been looking forward to.]_

_[Jutsus.]_   
  
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Itachi and Kisame surveyed the Hidden Village of Grass. It was set on the edge of a forest, making it defendable against a full on frontal attack, but whoever built the village obviously had not expected two shinobi to sneak in through the back and take down the entire village. 

This was a village without a kage and it was pitiful. The guards were all genin who seemed even weaker than those that lived in the Hidden Village of Falls. It was amazing that the first Hokage had originated from such a weak place. Konoha was very new compared to this village, at the same time, a lot more powerful. To think that this village tried to protect the entire of the Country of Grass... 

This would be easy... 

"Let's go." Itachi said emotionlessly. "Watch out for darts and other similar weapons. Grass specializes in poisons." 

Kisame nodded and they began to walk to the village. 

"Hey, who are you?" One of the genin guards said trying to look tough. The two continued walking. "Don't ignore me!" The same genin said and charged at Itachi when his body exploded with a flash of blood and guts. The other genin's eyes widened with horror. It took them ten seconds before they set off the alarm. 

Kisame pulled out his energy eating sword and proceeded killing the rest of the genin. Then the jounin and chuunin came. Poisoned kunai shot at from all directions. Itachi pulled out his sword and deflected them. The kunai fell to the ground. Itachi lifted his sword and prepared to take them out when he felt a prick on his arm. 

Reflexively, he pulled at the object. He was looked at a sharp needle that had embedded itself in his skin. He heard some triumphant laughs. He spun to see an overcocky jounin smirking. 

"That poison spreads through your body and to all your organs, killing you in a minute. There is no cure." The grass nin said overconfidently. 

_I was careless!!_ Itachi thought angrily. He had to stop it from spreading. He grabbed the infected part of his arm and stared at the grass nin who was smirking. His smirk turned into a look of horror. Itachi ripped off his own flesh that was infected. Pain coursed through his veins, but he ignored it. His arm was covered in blood, but none of the poison had spread. He looked at the infected flesh in his hand and saw a green liquid oozing out of the veins. _That was close._ He dropped the flesh and then charged at the jounin, slicing him in half. 

"Itachi! I have the scroll of seals. Do you want to stay for a bit?" Kisame asked. 

"No. Let's move out." Itachi said. The two retreated back into the shadow of the forest, leaving a burning village filled with bodies behind. 

They had began this quest a short while before. They were going to steal the scroll of seals from every village and present it to their leader of their organization. 

"Itachi, what village is next?" 

"The Hidden Village of Stone."   
  
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"CHIDORI!!" Naruto roared as he threw his fist at the tree which blue apart. The glow around his hands faded away as the technique was completed. 

Chidori actually wasn't as hard as Naruto originally thought. For those without a Sharingan, it was near impossible because you needed to be able to see exactly how the energy moved and such to actually be able to pull it off. But for someone who had a resident demon in his belly, it was a piece of cake. 

_Hey Fox!! Why do I need to learn this technique anyway? Isn't Rasengan similar and good enough?_ Naruto asked bored. _I wanna learn some cooler techs...not one that looks almost the same as my Rasengan._

_[The techniques may look similar, but they are different. The Chidori acts like a 'fire ball' which burns through the target. The Rasengan can be used to ways. If it's turning very fast, it can be used as a giant drill. If it's turning slowly, it can be used to make the target spin around and then go flying backwards.]_ Naruto raised an eyebrow. Kyuubi continued. _[What I am aiming for is for you to be able to merge the techniques together. Theoretically, this should be possible. The techniques will contradict each other, meaning that when you make contact, rather than it acting like a drill or a 'fire ball', it will just explode, destroying the target completely.]_ Naruto began to grin, suddenly interested. 

He began to try to merge the techniques. It was harder than he thought, and painful. Sometimes the two techniques merged in a way so that it was so unstable that it exploded in his hand. Other times, they just canceled each other out, just wasting chakra. But after a few hours of trial an error, he finally found a way to merge the two so that he had a glowing ball of energy in his hand swirling but making the sound of a Chidori and emitting sparks. He charged forward and pushed his hand against the tree. The ball of energy burrowed its way into the thick trunk. Naruto then switched the way that the chakra was spinning, the effect, a huge explosion that blew apart the entire trunks leaving a small crater in the ground. 

_WOW!! AWESOME!!_ Naruto thought. _Now, Kyuubi-sensei, what tech we gonna learn now?_

Naruto continues learning jutsus for the rest of the day. From very simple ones that did things like gave him a genjutsu camouflage to very powerful ones that seemed like overkill. The techniques ranged from genin level techniques to beyond jounin techniques. Some incorporated just Naruto's chakra, while others required both human and demon chakra to work and some rare ones only worked with demonic chakra. 

_[Naruto you must always remember that these powerful techniques are really only to be used if you find yourself in a situation where this is your only hope. Most of these techniques use a lot of chakra and leave you vulnerable. For instance, take an experienced jounin like Kakashi, the only time he's used a powerful technique was once, the Chidori. He relies mainly on taijutsu and ninjutsu as his main fighting style.]_ Kyuubi explained. 

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. Teach me another awesome technique." Naruto said not really caring. 

Kyuubi sighed. Naruto would learn the hard way and it would be painful...   
  
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"Okay Genins, today we'll start the Chuunin exams." Tsunade, the Fifth Hokage said to the crowd. "Because of the upcoming war against Orochimaru and any allies he may have made, the Chuunin exams will be hosted differently from the way you're used to. 

"For those of you who didn't take the Chuunin exams last year, it was made of three parts. A written exam, a survival exam and a tournament. This time however, we'll just have one part." 

"It will be hosted in the Forest of Death again. Each team will have a 'base'. This will include medical supplies, a few weapons, clothes, cooking accessories, food supplies and matches. Now the whole purpose of this exam is to defend your base, but take over other peoples' bases using any method necessary. This can include assassination, traps, kidnappings or anything you can think of. Extra points will be given if you manage to take your opponents prisoners rather than just killing them. Examiners will observe your actions while staying hidden. They will stop if any of you become too violent such as trying to kill someone who has already surrendered." 

"Any one who hasn't already registered and tries to take part in the exam will be executed on site by the jounins due to last years infiltration." She said referring to Kabuto and Orochimaru posing as Genin. "You have 24 hours from now to prepare. Your equipment that you bring will be inspected to make sure it fits the guidelines. Posing as examiners is not allowed. The exam will last a week, after that the jounin examiners will seek you out and give you directions from there. Those of you who wish to back out, do so now. Good luck." 

After that, the blonde haired Hokage left the room. There was a silence, and then everyone began talking. Many of the new Genin were pale at the idea of dying and immediately backed out. The Genin from last year were a bit surprised by the fact that there was only going to be one exam, but overall, they were fairly confident. 

"Sakura." Sasuke said quietly. 

"Yes?" The pink haired girl asked. 

"We should begin preparing. Make a list of all the equipment we need to bring. I'd suggest relaxing a bit before because we'll need our energy for the exam." Sasuke said with a very commanding voice. 

"And what are you going to do, Sasuke-kun?" Sakura asked. 

"Train." 

"But I thought you said you should save energy..." Sakura commented. 

Sasuke just turned and left. 

_Typical...oh well, now to work!_   
  
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It was time. The Chuunin exam. Only half of the Genin who had been in the meeting yesterday had actually come, most of them failures from the previous Chuunin exam. 

Like last time, they had to sign contracts with a disclaimer that if they were to die, it was not Konoha's fault and they had gone into it willingly. 

After that there was equipment inspections. Some of the equipment was confiscated such as a large bomb that one of the teams from the Hidden Village of Cloud had brought. 

"I'll have to take a look at what is inside that gourd please." One of the Chuunin equipment inspectors said to Gaara. Everyone tensed. This Chuunin obviously didn't know who he was dealing with. 

The red haired boy turned and faced the Chuunin in the eye. The chunnin flinched and began to pale. It seemed like an hour before the Chuunin said. "Never mind." Everybody visibly relaxed. 

"Hey Uchiha." A female voice said. Sasuke turned to see the Fifth staring at him. 

"Hokage-sama." 

"I have something I believe you should know. However it is confidential and none save your teammates are allowed to know about this." He noticed how she said teammates rather than teammate. A plural. Did that mean she thought that Naruto would return...? 

"Yes, I will not tell anyone." 

"Have you noticed that no genin from Hidden Grass came?" the Hokage said. 

"Yes." So it had something to do with the lack of Genin from Grass? And it was something confidential. A thought struck his mind. "Did they ally with Orochimaru?" Is that why she was warning him? So that if a Grass nin pretended to be a friend he shouldn't trust the traitor? Was it something to do with the mark Orochimaru had given him? 

"No. Our intelligence reports that the Hidden Village of Grass has been burnt to the ground and over half of the ninja there murdered." It was a known fact that the First Hokage had come from the Grass village to create a stronger village because the Grass village was very weak, but the entire village being burnt to the ground...? "According to them they were assaulted by two ninja who stole their scroll of seals. One of them had Sharingan eyes." 

Sasuke clenched his fist. 

"Itachi."   
  
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"Jiraiya-sama!" A voice said. The sennin looked turned around to see one of the ANBU members come in with his report. "We still have no trace of Uzumaki Naruto. How a genin could have covered his tracks to well, I do not know." 

_He must have some sensei then, if even our ANBU members can't track them..._ Jiraiya thought. "Very well. I do not believe this search will turn up with anything." 

"Sir?" 

"Cease the search for Naruto. I want all ANBU efforts to be focused on the war. Find all you can about Orochimaru and where he is currently residing. Do not engage him." 

"Hai." The ANBU member bowed slightly before leaving with haste.   
  
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"Everyone will be given a basic map of the Forest of Death, however it will only inform you where your base is and will not tell you where your opponents bases are." Anko, one of the examiners, said. "Like last time, you will be released from different gates at different times. Good luck. Let's hope not too many of you die." 

Most of the people shivered from her last remark. 

Sasuke studied the map. They had been placed in a 'base' that was on the far end of the forest. It was a cave on a Cliffside. That meant they only really had to worry about being attacked from the front but it also mean that they would be trapped and wouldn't be able to retreat. 

He looked at the route that they were to take from the gate and the time they were allowed to begin the exam. The exam would start in an hour and they were allowed to start moving in two hours. It would take an additional hour to travel to the 'base' moving at a fairly fast pace. 

After that, the genin looked at the list that Sakura had prepared with all the equipment she had brought. 

Fifteen kunai? That was a fair number. Twenty throwing knives, twenty small star shruiken, three foldable large windmill shruiken, one large star shruiken, five explosive seals, extra medical supplies, two sets of basic communications device and two sets of camouflage. He had to admit, Sakura had brought some very useful equipment. Last exam, she had brought almost no weapons at all. Now it looked like she had brought enough to equip a small army. 

It was all put neatly in a very large and heavy bag that he would no doubt be the one to carry it. He grimaced at the thought of trying to run and carry that much weight at the same time. But he was still impressed by the fact that Sakura had actually brought some useful things. He also noticed she was not wearing her usual red dress she wore but a t shirt and pants, made of fairly strong material. 

He gave a small smile. "Nice clothes." He remarked. 

Sakura blushed at the comment. He'd never ever complimented her about what she wore. She had dressed up for him wearing every single thing she could think of that would impress him and he hadn't even noticed. Now she had come in combat gear and he actually complimented her. Who'd have thought...? 

"Sand Team 1, you may begin now." Anko said. 

Gaara, Temari and Kankuro took off into the dark forest. Gradually, the crowd began to decrease as more genin teams took off into the wilderness. 

"Leaf Team 7, you may begin now." Sasuke nodded and pulled the bag of equipment on. Then he and Sakura began their trek towards their 'base'. 

It took longer than Sasuke had actually planned, mainly, do his embarrassment, due to the fact that he was carrying fifty kilograms on his back. They arrived and nearly didn't see it. It had great camouflage and was hidden behind a large bush. 

It was actually fairly good for an outpost. It had a fairly comfortable bed, even though it looked terrible. The food was just some basic rations, but good enough to last them the week. There was enough firewood and matches and even a few weapons, except they were old and rusty, practically useless. 

"Sakura, you stay here and defend the base. I'm going to go scout the area." Sasuke said. 

"How long will you be gone?" Sakura asked. 

"A day at most." Sasuke said. "We'll keep in touch via the communications equipment you brought. However, keep radio silence most of the time except at hourly intervals or in an emergency. It is very possible the enemy has also brought radios and will try to tap our frequency." 

Sakura involuntarily shivered at the fact that many of her friends would currently be 'the enemy' in an environment like this. Last Chuunin exam she had merely thought of them as 'opponents', but here, after training with Sasuke, she had realized that she may have to actually kill them here. _No regrets...they came here knowing their life is at stake, it's not my fault if I kill them..._ She kept telling herself, but still, she didn't know whether she could bring herself to kill someone, let alone her old classmates. 

"Take care of yourself and watch your back." Sasuke said and began silently running away. 

Sakura gave a slight smile at the 'take care of yourself' part. Sasuke actually cared whether she lived or died, it was very reassuring. 

She pulled out a few kunai and throwing knives and began her watch.   
  
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Kakashi watched from the control room. They had installed many surveillance cameras throughout the forest so that anyone the examiners, teamleaders, friends and family could watch. Of course, no radios or communication equipment was permitted inside the room to prevent cheating, but it was an effective way to see exactly what was going on in the dark forest. 

The grey haired jounin was watching his team while reading yet another great volume of Icha Icha Paradise. Sasuke had left Sakura to do guard duty all alone? Typical, selfish Sasuke. He really needed to teach him teamwork, but not to blindly trust your teammates either. You had to know your teammates strengths and weaknesses to be able to use them properly. 

Sakura wouldn't be able to hold off an attack. 

"Go Lee!!" A voice said from next to him. Kakashi grimaced as Gai came up from beside him, watching a TV screen where Lee was showing off, as usual, to his teammates. The 'clone of Gai' was trying to make firewood by kicking a tree and then cutting it up with his fists, despite the fact that there was a large saw in the base. The teamleader of Team 7 sighed. 

"Gai, haven't you taught that boy that you ARE allowed to use blades to CUT things and that FISTS aren't made for cutting wood?" Kakashi said in a very uninterested voice. 

Gai just laughed. "Lee knows what he's doing. But you should watch your screen more. Looks like the first battle is about to start." 

Kakashi blinked and looked at the screen showing Sakura looking around intently. Then he noticed it. Three dark shadows moving threw the bushes, silently and stealthily. A cover of mist began to slowly appear around the area, but Sakura didn't seem to notice. 

_Mist-nins! Experts at stealth and assassination!_ Kakashi thought. He almost had an urge to hurry up and take them down, but he knew the rules. Assassination was perfectly acceptable and no one else was allowed to interfere under pain of death. He clenched a fist. _Damn you Sasuke! Hurry up and get back, your teammate is about to be killed!_

"Things aren't looking very good." Gai said solemnly. 

One of the nins stood up behind Sakura as a dark silhouette. There was a glint of metal as a knife appeared in the mist-nins hand. He began to bring it close to her neck...   
  
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Sakura sighed, slightly bored and worried about Sasuke. Was he okay? Had he already engaged the enemy? She couldn't bear to lose another teammate. 

_Another teammate..._

Her thoughts shifted to Naruto. The blonde haired kid had always been 'different'. Now she knew why. He had had a demon in his belly. What a burden! He was carrying something that had killed countless people and at the end of it, he was being treated as if he was the demon himself! 

How unfair was that? And at the end of it, her parents, those heartless bastards, had been the ones who had tried to campaign for Naruto's execution! They would kill an innocent baby! 

Her kind...loving...parents, murderers? She had never suspected- 

Her thoughts immediately froze. The entire area was suddenly misty. Why? She felt a presence behind her and some warm breath on her neck, then a cold piece of metal brushing across her throat. 

_Oh my god..._

Immediately, she grabbed the assailants hand and twisted it, snapping the bones inside. There was a howl of pain from the assassin. Sakura pulled out a throwing knife and stabbed it into the mist-nin's neck. The man fell over, dead. 

Before she could think about her actions, two dark figures pounced at her. She rolled out of the way and brought two kunai out. 

"Fire element! Mystical fire flower no jutsu!!" Sakura said using the technique Sasuke had taught her. Two small fireballs charged at the enemy. The opponent gave a smirk and condensed the mist into water to create a shield. The fireballs burnt out to reveal two kunai which were in it. 

"Wha-!?" The enemy ninja manage to get out before the kunai embedded themselves in his chest, sending him flying against tree. 

She then spun around and threw another kunai at the final mist nin. They were surprisingly easy to kill. It seems like this team relied too much on the condition that they'd kill their targets before they could fight back. But in a full on fight without the cover of stealth, they were weak. 

The mist nin dodge out of the way and threw a concealed throwing knife back which grazed across Sakura's cheek. If she had been fighting the same battle before Sasuke had began training her, it would have gone right through her head. 

"Grand Fireball no jutsu!" She said as she executed the technique. A huge ball of fireball erupted from her lips, incinerating the enemy ninja, his screams drowned by the roaring of flames. 

After that, there was an unnerving silence. Sakura fell to her knees, breathing heavily. Her life had nearly ended. That ninja had nearly sliced her throat open. Her life had been so close to ending. She had never been so scared in her life; at the moment she had realized that there was an enemy behind her. 

And she had killed. For the first time in her life, she had killed. Three enemy ninja. Did that mean she had gained the title of 'murderer' like her parents? Sasuke's face came from memory. 

_"Sakura." The black haired genin had said during their training. "Sometimes, killing is necessary, especially for us ninja. Ninja originally were just assassins but over the years began to do other jobs too. You must be able to kill when you have to. A lot of the time it's kill or be killed. Or even worse, kill or let your companions be killed."_

During that discussion, Sakura had nodded but had thought that she'd never kill even though Sasuke had told her. But she was wrong... 

She stared are her hands which were covered in blood from her first kill, then stared at the bodies of her fallen enemies. The first one had a huge pool of blood under him. The second was less mess and simple had bloodstained clothes with two kunai sticking out of his chest and the third...the third was just reduced to the a pile of ash on the ground. 

Her morals were screaming at her, accusing her of murder and evildoing. But another part of her seemed to gain some sickening pleasure and satisfaction from killing another human and yet another part of her seemed excited by the whole idea. 

Inner Sakura once again made herself known by cheering and such. Sakura shook her head and began to pull retrieve her kunai from the body.   
  
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Kakashi was staring at the screen, gaping with surprise over the events which had just occurred. Since when was Sakura so strong? Since when was she efficient in killing? Since when did she know Uchiha techniques? 

_Sasuke..._ He thought. He was the only one that could have taught her. But Sasuke wasn't the type to try to teach Sakura. He knew that even though Sasuke cared for Sakura as a friend, the black haired genin held almost no respect for her as a ninja. Why would he train her...? And when would he train her? He knew for a fact that Sasuke had not left his mansion for quite a while and had spent his time in solitude, training. 

"He, Kakashi. I must say, your female subordinate has improved!" Gai remarked, then frowned. "Hey, you look surprised at her development." 

"Yeah, I am." Kakashi admitted. 

Gai raised an eyebrow. "Heh heh. Haven't been a very good teamleader, have we? You probably don't even know that she's been living with the Uchiha for quite some time now. Lee just wouldn't stop rambling about it and how the Uchiha had 'kidnapped' his girlfriend and the rest..." Gai noticed the surprised look on Kakashi's face. "Your kidding me...you truly didn't know where she was living!? Oh my god, this is priceless!! Are you sick or something? This isn't very much like you Kakashi." 

Kakashi just gaped.   
  
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Sasuke began moving as fast as he could. As soon as he had seen the flames of a Grand Fireball Technique, he immediately assumed the worst. He had to get back to the base as soon as possible and hope that Sakura was okay. 

He came charging out of the forest and surveyed the scene before him. Sakura was in a corner looking a bit shocked, but physically okay. Three bodies of mist-nin were scattered on the floor. Sasuke raised an eyebrow. 

He walked over to Sakura and knelt down. "What happened?" 

Sakura was silent for a bit, then burst into tears holding Sasuke close. "Oh Sasuke! It was horrible! I was so scared!" She sobbed. 

"Shh, shh, it's okay. You managed to kill them." Sasuke said, definitely not good at the whole 'comforting' thing because Sakura just began to cry louder. "Tell me what happened." 

"They came from behind me. I didn't know they were there until he had a knife at my neck. I-I killed him. Then I killed his teammates...I'm a murderer!" 

"No your not Sakura! Like I said before, sometimes killing is necessary! Sometimes taking lives is justified! It was either you or them and they were the ones who started the assassination attempt. You merely acted in self defense. We're ninja, killing is our job, you must keep that in mind at all times, but don't let it take a hold of you or you will become like my brother...killing for fun..." Sasuke began to growl at the end of his speech. 

Sakura just held him tighter.   
  
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"My lord, missing nin from the Hidden Village of Mist have allied to our cause. Gangs from the Country of Fire have also decided to join our army. An elite mercenary group made of Mist-nin have also expressed an alliance to us, but they are only joining if they are paid five million zen." Kabuto said. 

The pale man leaned forward. "How good are these mercenaries?" 

"Each one is almost as powerful as Hatake Kakashi, the copy ninja." Kabuto said. 

Orochimaru gave a smirk. "Very well, they'll be paid five million zen. Two million before they begin to serve, three million if their services are satisfactory." 

"Yes. Do you want me to relay that message Orochimaru-sama?" The ex-leaf-nin said. 

"First I want you to tell me how many soldiers I've currently got." Orochimaru said. 

"All the army from the Hidden Village of Stone and Sound. That mercenary group I was talking about. Over five hundred soldiers who haven't been trained in any proper arts, but can still slaughter civilians. Almost fifty powerful missing-nin from various villages, mainly mist and over seventy swordsmen of various skills. We can expect more in the near future." Kabuto said. 

Orochimaru gave a sickening smile. That was a very powerful army. The majority made up of those from the Hidden Village of Stone, who protected the Country of Earth, which was a very powerful, but quite country. He could take over anything any village could send at him. In fact, if he just go slightly more powerful, he would be able to fight all the villages at once. 

The only thought that plagued his mind was his arms. The Third Hokage had ripped part of his soul out of his body. He was a lot weaker than before. Even though he had manage to use his forbidden technique and take over the body of one of his strongest subordinates, he was still a lot weaker than before. True, he was still more powerful than most jounin, but there were a few that could still beat him. The most disturbing fact was that Kabuto seemed to know that he was weak, yet the leaf nin still served him. Why? What was Kabuto gaining from it? 

It was humiliating, putting up an act just to make himself look strong, but he had to do it. He had to play this smart. After he ruled all the countries, then he could begin to find out how to reverse the effects of the curse Sarutobi had placed upon him. 

Soon...   
  
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Sasuke had the map out with everything he had manage to find. He had marked in four bases that he had managed to find as well as possible places they could use as cover or camouflage if they were to attack. He had also managed to locate the base of the mist nin which had attacked Sakura. 

"The closest base to us is the one of the Mist nin that you took out." Sasuke said. Sakura involuntarily flinched from the memory. "Apart from that, most of the bases are fairly far away. Because these two bases are close, we don't have to worry about defending too much area, nor do we have to worry too much about them being attacked for we are so isolated from the rest of the bases." 

Sakura nodded. "We are in a fairly good location and already have one base and it's been just a day." 

"I have an idea about how we can take this base." Sasuke said pointing to a mark on the map, and then hesitated. 

Sakura looked at him and gestured for him to continue. 

"You're not going to like the plan..." The Uchiha mumbled. "I believe we can kidnap one of the team and then force the rest of the team to follow. After that we ambush them and take them down. Whether or not we kill them is very dependant on how much they struggle." 

Sakura thought about it. Even though she hated having to kidnap someone, it did seem logical, plus there was a low chance that they would have to actually kill anyone while doing it. "Sounds good. What team is it we're taking?" 

Sasuke mumbled something below his breath. 

"Excuse me?" Sakura asked. 

"Team 10." 

Sakura froze. Konoha, Team 10. Ino's team. Ino, Chouji and Shikamaru. Only two in the actual exams because Shikamaru had already made it to Chuunin. Ino, one of her friends...she'd have to fight, possibly to the death. 

"Sakura?" Sasuke asked. 

A ninja doesn't let emotions get in the way. There was no way she would make it to Chuunin if she let emotions get in the way. She hoped Ino would understand. She nodded. 

"Let's do it."   
  
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Team 1 from Sand was doing extremely well, as expected. They had split up into two groups. One with Gaara, and one with Temari and Kankoru. 

Temari and Kankoru had managed to take a base owned by some genin from Rain who put up quite a challenge, but in the end, could not hold against the Sand warriors. Gaara had also taken a base from some nin from the Hidden Village of Cloud. 

Gaara walked fearlessly without any stealth at all, making him a target. But for all who had seen him in the previous exam, they would not even try to touch him. 

He began walking when he saw a small flag and a wooden shelter. It was a base. 

There was no one in immediate sight. Had they left their base wide open for attackers? 

_No._ He could feel the presence of three genin waiting in ambush, ready to take down any attackers. A good strategy. But would these genin dare to attack him? 

Gaara smirk. This would be amusing...   
  
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"Someone's coming!" Kiba said to his teammates. 

At first, they had thought that their base was in a really bad position, for it was not camouflaged nor was it in an easy defendable position. It was open to attacks from all sides and it gave the attackers good cover. 

But after a while, they had realized that it also gave them cover to set up an ambush. If they managed to trick the attackers into thinking the base was empty and then attacking when their guard was down, then they had a huge tactical advantage. 

They lay in wait, communicating through a radio transmitter. "Prepare to attack, wait until his guard is down." Shino said. 

"Do you recognize who he is?" Hinita asked. 

"Oh my god...oh my god..." Kiba whispered with panic and fright, they heard Akamaru whimper. 

"Who is it Kiba?" Shino asked, slightly worried. 

Hinita frowned. Who would make someone like Kiba, who was very bold and aggressive so scared? Kiba's reply made her heart freeze. 

"Gaara."   
  
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"Sakura, are you ready?" Sasuke said through the microphone. 

"Yes. Who should we take hostage?" Sakura whispered, slightly scared of the answer. 

"I would say Ino. Chouji would be too hard to handle." Sasuke answered. 

Sakura let out a small laugh at the idea of 'Chouji being too hard to handle'. How true. But she was still a bit unsure of the idea of taking one of her friends hostage. 

Ino was standing guard outside her house while Chouji was inside eating, as usual. The blond haired girl was complaining, as usual. "Oh my god you lazy bum! Get your ass out here and do some guarding!" 

"Mrggh, maggfff, murfff!" Chouji's answer came. 

"Oh my god, that's gross! Don't talk while your chewing!! Now guard for a while you useless person! You're almost as lazy as Shikamaru! At least he made Chuunin! You're going to be Genin forever!! I'm going to go do some scouting! Humph!" She said and then began walking away, muttering something about how she wished she was on someone else's team. 

Sasuke nodded. The two genin began stealthily moving towards the girl. Ino was completely clueless when Sasuke came from behind and knocked her on the back of her head, making her fall over unconscious. 

"Sakura, do you think you can take it from here and beat Chouji?" Sasuke asked. 

Sakura thought for a second, then nodded. 

"Good." Sasuke said. "I will leave you then and capture another close by base. Good luck." 

Sakura nodded and then pulled the unconscious form of Ino over her shoulder and began to set the trap...   
  
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Chouji sat bored, watching for enemies half heartedly, but most of his attention was on the packet of chips he had brought. 

Where was Ino? She was taking a long time, but that was Ino for you. Totally unpredictable...and mean... 

Suddenly a kunai flew from the trees and landed at his feet. Chouji eyed it carefully. It had a piece of paper stuck to it, was it an explosive seal? No, it looked like a note. 

He picked it up and began reading. 

_To whoever is on Konoha's Team 10: _

We have the girl, if you want her back alive, then you will surrender your base. Meet us in Sector 3D within the next three hours with your surrender or she dies. 

Your Worst Nightmare 

It took a moment to register, then Chouji made an angry roar and then began charging towards the sector which had been mentioned in the letter. 

From the trees, Sakura smirked.   
  
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Ino woke up groggily. What had happened? She had been walking away, pissed off at Chouji when someone had attacker her...? 

Kidnapped! She was kidnapped! 

"You're awake? Hi Ino." A familiar voice said. 

The blond haired genin tried to turn around when she realized she was tied up by her arms and legs. The owner of the voice came and sat down next to her. "Sakura? Were you kidnapped too? Who kidnapped us?" 

She noticed Sakura wouldn't meet her gaze and she was looking around guiltily. Why? 

"Umm, err, umm..." Sakura mumbled. 

It was then that Ino realized that Sakura wasn't bound, in fact, she held a few weapons on her. She narrowed her eyes. "You wouldn't have been the one to kidnap me, would you?" 

"Hey, it was Sasuke's idea!!" Sakura said in her defence. 

Ino gasped in surprise. "Oh my god! You DID kidnap me you dumb bitch!! I'm gonna get you!! I can't believe you moved in with MY boyfriend and then have the audacity to KIDNAP me! Chouji is gonna kick your ass." 

"Firstly, he's not YOUR boyfriend, secondly, I'm only living with him cause my parents are fucking bitches, and thirdly, the whole plan is that Chouji comes here and I kick his ass!" Sakura said. "In fact, here he is now!" 

"INO!! INO!!" Chouji's voice came through the trees. 

"The guy is giving away his position to everyone in this entire forest..." Sakura mumbled. 

The large body of Chouji came bursting through the trees. "Ino! There you are!!" 

"Chouji! Sakura is the one who kidnapped me! She called you a super fatso! Get her!" Ino said with a smirk. 

Chouji gave a roar of rage. "I AM NOT FAT!" Ironically, he puffed up like a balloon and then his limbs and head seemed to go into his body like a turtle. Then the big 'ball' of Chouji started floating, suspended by chakra. 

Sakura moved into her ready position.   
  
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Hinita listened with horror to Kiba's answer to who was walking into their trap. _Gaara of Sand..._

The name sent shivers to her very soul. The three of her team had seen Gaara in the last exam. He had massacred the rain team without any remorse. In fact, Gaara's friends had actually seemed bored. He had tried to kill them but had been stopped by his sister. 

Last year, after suffering a defeat from Neji, she had sworn to be more like Naruto. Stronger. Less wimpish. She had promised to never back out of a fight and to fight aggressively like Kiba. 

But how could that promise hold now? She was up against Gaara. She would never win. She would die. 

But what was more important? Her new values? Or her life? 

She closed her eyes tightly and tensed. Trying to make a decision. 

"Hinita! What are you waiting for! Let's escape!" Kiba whispered fiercely and urgently. 

Hinita opened her eyes and whispered her answer. "No." 

There was a pause then a shocked. "WHAT!?" From both Shino and Kiba. 

"No. I am not a wimp anymore." She said before activating her Byakugan. 

"HINITA!" Kiba shouted as the Hyuuga girl charged at one of the most feared genins on the planet.   
  
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Gaara raised an eyebrow. It seemed that two of the ambushers were retreating, but one had charged at him. Whoever he was, he was either very brave, very stupid or both. 

The enemy charged from behind him. _Is he going to use Taijutsu?_ Gaara's sand lifted up in the air as his attacker's punch came in. The sand easily blocked it, but then he felt his chakra in the sand become damaged. _What the-!? Jyuuken technique? Hyuuga!_

Gaara jumped backwards and turned to face his attacker. He was slightly surprised. A girl!? 

He remember the Hyuuga Girl from last chuunin exams. She was powerful, but weak and cowardly. But now, she seemed braver than anyone he had ever met, save Uchiha and Naruto. It was admirable. His respect for the girl rose up a few notches. 

She looked at him with fear in her eyes but then shook her head. It was amazing how her expression could go from being scared to being confident. 

She charged at him attacking with more Jyuuken attacks. _Damnit..._ Even though they were doing no physical damage; they were interrupting his control over the sand that protected him. He found the sand's reaction time was decreasing with every hit she blocked. 

_I need to end this quickly..._ He thought and sent his sand charging at her. It formed the shape of a hand and prepared to grab her. 

"NOW!!" A shout came from behind him. His sand quickly moved away from the Hyuuga girl and blocked an incoming attack from one of her teammates. Gaara recognized him as the 'dog boy'. 

He had to admit, this team was fairly courageous... 

...but that wouldn't let them keep their lives! 

Gaara prepared to attack when he suddenly realized he was covered in small bugs that were draining his chakra. 

He looked up and saw 'bug boy' looking at him with a trail of the chakra eating bugs walking towards him, sneaking through a hole in his defences. 

_I was careless!_ He thought. _You are going to eat my chakra are you? I'll GIVE you chakra then!_. A burst of Shukaku's chakra mixed with his chakra. The bugs were overloaded with chakra and literally exploded. 

_DIE!!_ Gaara thought as he sent sand in all three directions. The sand wrapped around them and began squeezing. The three leaf nin fell unconscious. 

"Desert coffin!" He said menacingly and commanded his sand to crush them, but stopped. _What did I do that for? Why didn't I kill them?_

He knew the reason. 

Uzumaki Naruto.   
  
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"Gaara's here." Temari said as she saw her brother walking towards their base. "We managed to take down one rain team and their base. How many did you get?" 

"Two." Gaara said emotionlessly. 

"So that means we've got four, including our own base." Kankuro put in. 

Temari then noticed that behind Gaara there were three clumps of sand floating behind him. "What is that?" 

Gaara let the sand drop. Both of his teammates gasped. Not at the fact that Gaara had been keeping live humans inside a cocoon of sand, but at the fact that their merciless brother had spared three leaf ninja. 

"Wha-why? Why did you spare them?" Kankoru said with wide eyes. 

"The Hokage informed us that extra points are rewarded for taking prisoners." Gaara said, satisfying Kankoru's interest, but not Temari's. 

She had notice for a while now, Gaara had been more merciful, less bloodthirsty. In one occasion, he had actually protected her. 

She gave a small smile. _Naruto, you changed Gaara for the better, if you hadn't become missing nin, I would have thanked you..._   
  
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Sakura was panting heavily. The 'big boned' leaf nin was proving harder than she thought. She had managed to dodge all his attacks, but her attacks seemed virtually useless against the rolling mass and to make things worse, she was getting puffed out. 

_Damnit, I'll have to use it._ 'It' was a technique that Sasuke had shown her, a powerful technique with a high chance of killing. She didn't want to kill again, especially not against one of her ex-classmates, but like Sasuke had said, it was kill or be killed. 

"Chouji I'm warning you, stop, or you may die!" Sakura warned, but her opponent paid no heed. 

Chouji came rolling in for another pass. Sakura widened her stance and let her hand drop, palm facing down, she began pouring chakra into it.   
  
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Kakashi's eyes widened when he realized what Sakura was gonna do. He stared at the TV with surprise and shock. Sasuke had taught her that technique!? 

The pink haired genin was known for her great chakra manipulation and effective use for it. But still, learning this technique was amazing! 

The energy began to gather as a familiar sound of a thousand birds began to fill the forest battlefield. Her hand began glowing and blue sparks began to fly out of her fist and hit the surroundings. Sakura got into a ready position.   
  
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Sasuke dodged another one of Lee's punches, then a kick. _Damn that kid is fast!_ Like before, his sharingan could keep up, but not his body movements. 

The black haired genin jumped back. "GIANT FIREBALL TECHNIQUE!!" He shouted while blowing a large ball of fire out of his mouth, as expected, Lee jumped backwards. 

Sasuke gave a smirk and charged through the smoke left over from the fire with a kunai in his hand. Lee was looking very confident until he realized that the fireball was a feint. It was too late for him as Sasuke appeared and held the kunai against the taijutsu specialist's neck. 

"Surrender." Sasuke said firmly. 

"Never!!" Lee howled. 

Sasuke pressed the kunai closer to his neck, it began to produce blood. "Surrender!!" He said, slightly more forcefully this time. 

"Fine, we surrender Uchiha." Came a female voice. 

Sasuke shifted his gaze to see Ten Ten sighing in defeat. Sasuke gave a smile and lowered the pressure of the kunai. 

"NOW NEJI!!" She suddenly said. 

_FUCK! A TRAP!!_ Sasuke bit himself for his stupidity as the Hyuuga appeared from the smoke behind him. Sasuke rolled out of the way to dodge a kunai. 

"THAT NEARLY HIT ME!!" Lee complained. 

"Shut up Lee!" Neji said and sent another kunai at Sasuke who caught it in midair and threw it back. 

"You will lose Uchiha!" Neji said and smirked. 

_Shit...What is he up to?_ Sasuke thought. 

"One point!" Neji said while pressing his finger into a vulnerable tenketsu. Sasuke's eyes widened when he realized what Neji was doing. "Two points!" More tenketsus were closed. "Four points! Eight points! Sixteen points! Thirty Points!" He said after each tenketsu was closed. "SIXTY FOUR POINTS!!!" Neji shouted as he hit Sasuke in the last tenketsu, closing it. 

Immediately, Sasuke's sharingan deactivated. He felt his control over chakra lose its effect and an immense pain in his chest. He stumbled backwards and fell onto the ground. 

"Your tenketsus are now closed, Uchiha, only one person has managed to activate them again." Neji said. 

Naruto. 

The only thing was, Naruto had a second chakra source, Sasuke didn't. He wasn't a Taijutsu expert like Lee and relied heavily on his chakra techniques and Sharingan. He couldn't retreat for Lee was faster than him. What did he have? He didn't have anything! He was going to lose.   
  
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Sakura began charging at her opponent. It was a massive ball of fat vs a small figure with a powerful technique. 

The two clashed. 

"CHIDORI!!" Sakura screamed as she sent her energized fist at Chouji's stomach. There was a sickening squelching noise of skin being penetrated. Time seemed to slow down. She felt with an odd satisfaction as her fist penetrated Chouji's belly. Her fist continued its path through the skin until it came out the other side. 

Sakura jumped back and moved into her fighting stance. Her entire body was dripping with blood. She looked at the large figure of Chouji staring at her in shock, then the large body fell the ground with a thud. A large pool of blood began to form under the large body as Chouji's life seeped away from him. 

The pink haired girl and rushed forward, checking for a pulse. 

There was none. 

Sakura sank to her knees and for the second time since the start of the exams, she cried.   
  
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Ino watched in horror at the lifeless form of Chouji. _Oh my god..._

She couldn't believe it. One of her teammates was dead! Chouji, a person who annoyed her thoroughly. A person who she had deemed 'worthless'. A person who she had wanted to get away from. A person she had trusted. 

A person who was her friend. 

Tears fell down her cheeks as she realized that Chouji had died. He would never again annoy her about food. Never again chomp away at his chips in the middle of a mission. Never again protect her... 

Her gaze fell to the figure sitting next to her dead friend. 

Sakura. 

She clenched her fist. Sakura, she had trusted the bitch! 

She had started liking Sasuke! But it was just a crush. Then she had gotten onto the same team as Sasuke! But it was beyond her control. Then she had begun LIVING with Sasuke! But she had a reason. Then she kidnapped her! But it was all part of the game. 

But now she had gone too far! 

Sakura was a murderer. And she had killed one of her friends. 

She would pay! The pink haired bitch would pay! 

Summoning hidden strength, Ino broke the bonds of the rope. She ignored the pain and blood the rope had produced and picked up the nearest kunai and then charged at Sakura. 

"I'll kill you!" She screamed as she charged. 

Sakura turned and faced her. Ino froze. _This is wrong..._

Sakura's face was covered in tears and her emotions were a mixture of regret, shock, guilt and self disgust. 

Ino shook her head and stared menacingly at Sakura. "Do you feel it? Do you feel yourself killing him again?" she whispered. "Did you enjoy it? Did you like the feeling of ending someone's life? DID YOU ENJOY IT!?" 

"No..." Sakura whispered. 

Ino gave a twisted smirk. "You said your parents were almost murderers for some reason. Well guess what Sakura? You ARE a murderer." 

"You said you'd kill me..." Sakura whispered through tears. "Well, do it." 

Ino's eyes widened. _What?_

"Please...kill me..." Sakura whispered unable to bear the pain of the fact that she had killed a friend. 

"Killing you would be a kindness you don't deserve." Ino said coldly and Sakura flinched. "Farewell, my FRIEND." She said the last word with almost enough malice to kill. 

The blond haired girl dropped her kunai, turned and walked away, tears staining her own eyes. 

"KILL ME!!" Sakura called after her. "Kill me..." She said in despair and cried. 

Sakura's gaze fell upon the kunai that Ino had dropped. She held it and realized it was wet. _With Chouji's blood..._

She clenched her finger tight around the blade. It began to cut her skin and produce blood. Her own red liquid mixing with Chouji's. 

She remembered the first time she had met Ino and their friendship they had. She tried to remember all their good memories they had shared, but all she could come up with was Ino staring at her with hatred while saying. _ "Killing you would be a kindness you don't deserve."_

She lifted the kunai to her neck.   
  
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Tsunade looked at her watch and smiled. 

"Time up."   
  
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Lee sent a flying kick at Sasuke. The Uchiha boy moved into his ready position but knew it was not possible to stop the taijutsu master. 

There was a flash. The kick didn't come. Gai was standing there, holding Lee's foot in midair. "NICE WORK LEE!" He said grinning and giving thumbs up. "But time's up!"   
  
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Sakura brought the kunai to her neck and pressed. Blood began seeping out. She pushed harder and then prepared to sever her jugular veins. 

She suddenly felt a knock on the back of her head. Her vision blurred and she fell over. Before she fell unconscious, she saw the figure of her sensei, Kakashi looming over her, then, darkness...   
  
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Sakura woke up. She blinked trying to make out the room as vision was blurry. _Where am I?_

She noticed a sterile white ceiling. _A hospital._

"She's awake!" A voice said. She turned to see Sasuke looking at her very concernedly. 

"Welcome back to the land of the living, Sakura." Kakashi said with a grin. 

"What happened?" Sakura asked softly. _Please be a dream..._

"Chuunin Exam's over. That was a nice Chidori by the way..." Kakashi commented with good intentions. But the effect was disastrous. 

Memories flooded to Sakura's mind and she burst into tears again. Sasuke glared at Kakashi with a gaze that said one thing. _Go away._ Kakashi looked clueless, but left the room anyway. 

Sasuke held Sakura lightly. "Are you okay Sakura?" 

"Sasuke...I killed him...I'm a murderer..." She sobbed. 

"It wasn't your fault. You didn't mean to kill him. You're not a murderer. You didn't attack with the intent to kill." He said fiercely trying to calm her. 

"So I'm not a murderer. I'm just killer." Sakura said bitterly. "I should just die." 

"No!" Sasuke said firmly. "I don't know about most people, but if you died I would miss you. Naruto would miss you." 

Her gaze softened and she clenched onto her crush tightly. "Ino." She whispered. "She hates me. She said death was too good for me..." 

"Chouji entered the Chuunin exam knowing he may die. If she can't take it, then that's her problem." Sasuke said. "I know you two were close, but friendships do end sometimes." 

Sakura sobbed into Sasuke's chest. 

"Now, you are going to promise not to try to kill yourself again." Sasuke commanded. 

Sakura stared at him for a while and produced a small, fake smile then nodded slightly. 

"Good, now let's go to the ceremony and see if we made it to chuunin." Sasuke said. 

Sakura nodded and got out of bed.   
  
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"Good work genin!" Tsunade said with a smile. "We will now end our Chuunin exam with a ceremony. And good news for you! Many of you have made it to the next rank! Definitely an improvement." She said looking at Shikamaru who was the only one who made Chuunin last exam. 

Sakura clapped among with everyone else, but noticed eyes on her. She saw Ino glaring at her with hate and anger. She shrunk back slightly. 

"First, the deaths." Everyone got serious. "The entire of the Hidden Village of Mist, Team 2, who were taken out while attempting to assassinate Sakura." 

Everyone bowed their heads as of protocol, but glanced at Sakura with surprise. Sakura? Who had never killed anyone in her life and was one of the weaker ones in the village? Taking out an entire team of elite assassins? It was unexpected. 

"Second, the entire of Rain, Team 1, who were taken out in the same fashion as their predecessors from the last exam from the sand team." 

Once again a pause and a bow, but no one was really surprised about the fact that the sand team had killed again. 

"Fifthly, Ulric Habaan from the Wave, Team 1 who died from an attack from Rain, Team 2 before they died.. The rest of the team survived." 

"And finally Akimichi Chouji, Leaf, Team 10, who was killed from the Chidori attack executed by Sakura." 

Sakura felt everyone's gaze on her. Most looked surprised, angry, disgusted and hurt. She had killed four people this exam, one of whom was one of their own. Even Shikamaru, who usually was emotionless and bored, clenched his fist and stared blankly at Sakura. 

Tsunade noticed this and looked uneasy. "Remember, some of your friends may have died today. But they did give their consent and none of you are to take blame on your friends' killers or attempt revenge on them." 

Some of the genin from Leaf seemed to see a bit of logic with the Hokage's reasoning, Shikamaru one of them, but there was still many who looked like they would rip Sakura apart if they had the chance. Ino was one of them. 

Sakura took a step back and Sasuke stepped forward protectively. 

"Hem hem." Tsunade said trying to divert their attention elsewhere. "Now Anko-san will tell you those that made Chuunin, I will also tell you your good points and bad points and where you improved." 

"Thank you Hokage-sama." The blur haired examiner said and stepped onto the stage. "Firstly, congratulations. Never have this many genin actually made chuunin." 

"Being a Chuunin will not only mean that you go on harder missions and are ranked higher, you also will be commanding units. Not only small groups of ninja, because of the war, you will be commanding huge groups of even a hundred normal soldiers from the rest of the Country of Fire. Individually, these soldiers may seem useless to you, but it is up to you Chuunin to make them work together and become a powerful force." 

"The types of things we look in Chuunin's are not only individual skills or power, but also the ability to tactically plan strategies, know when to retreat but not to be a coward, teamwork and similar abilities. None of you save Shikamaru had that last year, but this year it's obvious most of you did better." 

"First we have Uchiha Sasuke from Team 7, Leaf." Everyone gave a small round of applause. Sasuke went up on the stage. "You proved that this time you actually trusted your members more than you previously did. You also trained them before hand, realizing the importance of the strength of team members and not only yourself. You didn't worked efficiently and were cautious. Your individual skills are also above average. Therefore we present you with the rank of Chuunin. Good work." 

Everyone clapped. "Second, we have Haruno Sakura from Team 7, Leaf." Sakura blinked. She had made Chuunin? She slowly walked up the stage. No one from leaf clapped. Sakura stared at the audience, but all she could notice was Ino glaring at her. She gulped. "Definitely you have improved since last time in individual strength. You also showed that you were able to kill an opponent, which will be expected a lot during the coming war." Ino's glare become more malevolent. "You also showed that you can move very well in reflex action rather than always having to think before attacking. Though your tactical skills can do with some improving, you managed to pull of some amazing techniques, the Chidori being one, and without a Sharingan which is quite an achievement. Finally, you were able to leave your personal feelings behind you while fighting and not let them interrupt you." 

Despite the fact she didn't say anything, Sakura knew she was talking about Chouji. _Let me go down...let me go down..._ She thought. 

"Good work." Anko said and let Sakura leave the stage and stand close to Sasuke 

"Gaara of Sand, Team 1." She said. "Once again Gaara, amazing abilities with your sand. You also seem to have gotten your old obsession for killing to lower. Chuunin must be able to kill, but they can't want to do it. Otherwise you will not be satisfied with your work and leave the village. You are still efficient with your attacks and even though most might not see, you have a fairly good tactical planning. Finally, you were the only one who actually captured prisoners and kept them alive and in your control until the end of the exam. Good work." 

This did get everyone rattled. Gaara killing? Yeah, yeah, so obvious. But Gaara sparing someone? And being the only one to spare someone? That was strange. 

"Rock Lee..." 

Anko continued the ceremony, calling out all those that had made Chuunin. In the end, Rock Lee, Hyuuga Neji, Uchiha Sasuke, Haruno Sakura, Gaara, Temari, Kankoru, Hinita, Kiba, Shino, one Mist nin, one rain nin and two Wave nins. 

It was indeed a large amount of graduates. 

Anko grinned. "Well good work to all of ya! For those that didn't pass, don't take it personally, train harder for next exam!! But remember, being genin doesn't mean being a rookie. Genin is still considered a ninja. You just may not be cut out to be a leader or a higher ranking ninja." Anko was staring a few people specifically. 

"Well now, go celebrate and have a good time, for it may be your last. Missions will be beginning in a week." Anko said then left the stage. 

Congratulations were being said to each other along with complaints and such. Sakura turned to Sasuke. "Let's go. I don't want to be here anymore." 

Sasuke nodded and the two left to the Uchiha mansion to celebrate by themselves.   
  
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"You have improved since our last bout." A voice commented. 

Hinita turned to the owner of the voice, Neji. She was a bit surprised. Neji hated the head family yet here he was admitting she had improved? She felt herself blush slightly. 

"Thank you brother." 

Neji nodded and left. 

"You were awesome Hinita-chan!" Kiba said with a grin. 

"Thanks." She said blushing again. She had gone from getting no attention to getting quite a lot. 

"Indeed. Even I was about to run away cowardly from that Gaara, yet you charged in and attacked him fearlessly. You've changed Hinita." Shino stated. 

"Yeah man! She rocked! Like the ANBU woman said, you showed great bravery! And if you hadn't attacked, we wouldn't have made Chuunin! We only got it cause of our loyalty to protect a friend even in dire situations." Kiba said again with a grin. "I still can't believe freakazoid there didn't kill us..." He said with a slight shiver. 

Hinita looked at the boy from sand. He had spared her. Why? He had massacred all the Rain nin from last exam. What made him stop? 

He remembered something that Gaara had said. _ "That drop-out beat me."_ he had said. Naruto had defeated him. Was it possible her old crush had also changed the way Gaara looked at life? Naruto had that effect of changing people...he was some person... 

She began to walk to the three Sand ninja. "Wha-? Where's she going? Is she crazy?" She heard Kiba comment from behind her. 

Gaara turned to her with his typical cold eyes. _Don't flinch, don't flinch, don't flinch..._ Hinita kept on telling herself. 

"Have you come for revenge for capturing you?" Gaara stated so matter-of-factly. 

Hinita shook her head. "No. I just wanted to thank you for sparing me and my team." After that she gave a quick smile. 

Gaara stared at the girl as if she was crazy. She had smiled? No girl had ever smiled at him...except for Temari, once. He felt...happy... 

"You were admirable, actually having courage to attack me." He said in return, with all he could come up with. Hinita began to blush furiously. He, who usually was cold to everyone, had just complimented her. She smiled quickly and ran back to Kiba and Shino who were still looking at her as if she was crazy. 

Gaara turned around just as Temari gasped. 

"What is it? Is there an attacker nearby?" The red haired warrior said, still feeling uncomfortable from his last conversation. 

"No, no! Gaara, are you blushing!?"   
  
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Many miles away, Naruto performed the hand seals for his sensei's new 'experimental' technique. It was the hand seals for a summoning technique, one very similar for the one used to summon GamaBunta, the Frog Boss. 

He bit his thumb, producing blood then ran his bleeding thumb from the top of his forearm to his palm, drawing a line. Then he put his palm's to the ground and hoped it worked. 

Red chakra from Kyuubi burst around him and began to pool together in front of him. It begun to show a figure of a four legged animal. After that it began to intensify until it showed the outline of the Demon Fox of Nine Tails. 

The chakra began to solidify into material. Naruto stared at the Kyuubi in its demon form standing in front of him. 

The Kyuubi gave a loud roar. Flame and Blaze knelt down as a sign of respect for their Kryton brethren. 

Naruto gave a smirk at whispered the name of the technique. 

"Kyuubi Summoning Jutsu."   
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Almost 15,000 words for this chapter! Longer than I originally thought.  
  
You are probably thinking, WTF!? And what the hell does this have to do with Naruto!? Jarik's gone insane...well, not far from the truth =P lol.  
  
No, I'm not abandoning Naruto. This chapter was just to focus on Sasuke and Sakura more. I was gonna add more Naruto stuff, but I decided you guys have waited long enough.  
  
Also, I wrote this over a period of 3 weeks, going on and off, so the writing style and moods might seem to jump around a lot and be very erratic. Sorry for that. You can definitely see this from when Naruto learns jutsus to when Sakura tries to erhm you know what.  
  
Read and review boys and girls .  
  
Oh, and thank you to my Beta Reader GreyWolf/Draoldan who kept me inspired to write this chapter and stop me from abandoning this fic. You all owe him. =P

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Now that most of you don't know anything about Japanese. Here's a glossary of the Japanese terms I am using in this story:   
  
. Ohayo – Good Morning   
Gomen – Declining, Your Pardon  
Onegai – Please   
Ryoukai – Comprehension, Roger  
Ninjutsu – The art of Ninjas, the art of 'Stealth/Invisibility'  
Taijutsu – The art of 'The Body (Hand-to-Hand combat)'  
Nani – What   
Arigatou – Thank You  
Hai – Yes  
Iie – No  
Sensei – teacher  
-sensei – (suffix after a name) title of a teacher   
-chan – (suffix after a name) used when talking to a girl, especially in a caring way.   
-san – (suffix after a name) similar to the title of 'Mr'.   
-kun – (suffix after a name) used when talking to a boy.  
-sama – (suffix after a name) used for someone of higher status. Etc, teacher.   
Sannin – San = 3, nin = ninja So it means 3 ninja and in this case, the legendary 3.  
Kuso/Chikusho – Damn/Damnit/Shit  
Ryu – Fighting Style, School Dobe – Drop out/Loser  
Baka – Idiot, fool, dumbass  
Kitsune – Fox  
Kyuubi – (Demon Fox of) Nine Tails  
Kata – Style  
Kaiten – Whirl (Neji's attack)  
Sennin – Hermit  
Ryuuko – Dragon and Tiger - Two great rivals  
Kyoujaku – Strength, power  
Jutsu – Literally means 'The art of'. Used for most techniques in Naruto.  
Kage Buunshin – "Shadow Replication" (Kage = Shadow, Buunshin – Replication)  
Hentai – pervert, perversion, anime-porn ;-)  
Yaoi – homosexual male-male relationship  
Yuri – homosexual girl-girl reltationship  
  
In Japanese, the surname comes before the first name. Eg Sakura (first name) and Haruno (last name), would be Sakura Haruno in English and Haruno Sakura in Japanese.   
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If you want to contact me, do so on:  
  
**AIM:** Kyp Jarik  
**MSN:** (I tend to use this more)   
  
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	5. Chapter V

**:: Ascension ::**  
_By Jarik Tentsu_

**Genre: **Action/Adventure/Romance/Angst  
**Rating: **PG-13, but may become R later – Violence, Possible Sex, Course Language, Dark Themes  
**Description: **Naruto leaves Konoha because he has decided he can learn better from a different teacher...Kyuubi!? A new demonic enemy and unlikely allies. Naruto/Sakura, Kyuubi(female, human form)/Sasuke, Itachi/OC and more! NON YAOI/YURI  
**Beta Reader: **Sepanto  
**Disclaimer: **I don't own Naruto...unfortunately  
**Author's Note: **Once again, sorry for the long wait. I'm not gonna make excuses cause no matter how busy I've been, the main reason I haven't updated was plain laziness. . But anyways, I should be getting more chapters out faster from now on. Sorry to all those ppl who had completely given up on this story, hopefull you're not too pissed off at me. P

Btw, I have a new Beta Reader, Sepanto.

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**Chapter 5**

The Country of Earth was a quiet power. They kept to themselves and didn't join many alliances or wars however they were very powerful. The Hidden Village of Stone, Earth's Ninja Village, was very skilled and powerful. Earth also had a very powerful main army to accompany the nin, made up of fairly skilled swordsmen, archers, artillery and such.

Their ninja had some very powerful techniques. One could turn a person into stone just by touching him, another, could create 'golems' out of stone which were near invincible warriors that were controlled by chakra from the user of the jutsu. If one could master all of Stone's jutsus, they would become one of the most powerful warriors on the planet and didn't even need the use of jutsus from other villages due to the fact that Stone incorporated all aspects of Ninpou into their fighting style. Stealth, battlefield combat, assassination, power attacks, silent attacks, poisons, bodyguard techniques, strategy and a lot more.

And this made it the perfect target for the Akatsuki.

Itachi and Kisame climbed stealthily through the rocky forest terrain. They couldn't just waltz in like they had done with Konoha and Grass because security in Stone was nearly the best in the world and for some reason; the security had heightened in the last few months. Any stranger without a passport was immediately taken into custody and if they tried to resist, even verbally, they were executed on the spot.

It was a risky attack, to try to break into one of Stone's most protected vaults and steal the Scroll of Seals, but it was worth it. The rewards would be limitless.

Itachi made a gesture and they stopped moving. Footsteps were heard coming from down the road. Itachi and Kisame hid behind a tree and kept silent, they barely dared to breath. There was a pause, and then the footsteps continued moving, getting softer and softer as they went away. They both get to their feet again. That had been close-

SMASH!!!!

The tree behind them exploded as a stone fist smashed the wood. The two missing-nin jumped out of the way to avoid it. They looked up to see a large stone humanoid creature staring down at him with rock eyes. _So this is a legendary golem technique...interesting... _Itachi activated his sharingan and Kisame brought his samehada (shark skin) sword to bear.

"What is your business here, trespassers?" An icy voice came from behind them. Itachi shifted his gaze to see a Stone jounin looking at him. The resemblance between him and the golem were uncanny. Both were strong and both shared the same stony gaze.

"None of yours." Came Itachi's reply.

"Very well." Then he charged at the two. Itachi jumped out of the way just to be smashed on his back by the golem. He gasped as he smashed into the ground, his back burning with pain. He heard a shout as Kisame met the same fate. Activating his sharingan he rolled out of the way, to dodge another attack from the stone beast.

Surveying the scene with his new red eyes, he noticed how the technique worked. The golem was made up of more than one rock, being held together by chakra which was linked to the Stone-nin. The fact that it was made up of multiple rocks made it able to move around however, the chakra was directly linked to the stone nin, meaning that the stone nin probably was controlling the golem with his chakra, as opposed to the golem having its own thought and its own chakra. The concentration and multitasking ability required must've been enormous. The Stone-nin would have to fight in two bodies at once, one body needed to be controlled by chakra, which by itself took a fair bit of concentration too. But it also meant that the technique had a weakness.

From what he had seen so far, the Stone-nin had used both his body and the golem as a team. It would no doubt be easier to use two bodies in one battle rather than two bodies in two separate battles. It would be like writing a sentence on a scroll with one hand and making dinner with the other hand. It would be a lot harder to multitask if he was fighting a different person than the golem.

"Kisame, fight the Stone-nin, I'll fight the golem." Itachi said.

Kisame nodded and then attacked with his sword at the ninja's head, who dodged out of the way and threw a small throwing knife shuriken at Kisame, who also dodged out of the way only to bump into a hard rock. His eyes widened as he realized that he had knocked into the stone golem. The stone creature lifted a fist.

_This is where I break his style! _Itachi then unsheathed his sword and slashed at the ninja, who jumped out of the way of the obvious attack. Itachi gave a smirk as he noticed that the golem had a delayed reaction. It only attacked after the ninja had moved into safety, which gave Kisame enough time to roll out of the way.

Kisame gave a grin as he too caught onto Itachi's plan. They both moved into their stances and prepared to take the Stone-nin down.

The enemy ninja was clenching his teeth, undoubtedly understanding that he had lost the fight. He looked around for possible escape routes, but found none. Protocol had one solution for this situation.

He began to gather chakra in the stones of the golem's body. Rocks are hard, yet brittle. They are not very good at storing energy within their dense surface. The chakra inside built up at incredible rates. Of course, there was no reaction visibly, the golem didn't start to glow or anything like that, just stood stationary. He continued to pour chakra into the rocks.

"KISAME!! GET DOWN!!!" Itachi shouted, his sharingan eyes noticing the energy building up.

The two missing-nins dived behind another rock just to avoid the flying debris of small rocks being propelled at super high speeds. Following it was a burst of chakra, as hot as fire, incinerating anything flammable. If it hadn't been for Itachi's bloodline limit, they would both be dead. But now it was apparent why the leader of Akatsuki wanted the Scroll of Seals so badly. Just one of the Stone-nins was so powerful that they could fight two Akatsuki at once for some time. And there was no hesitation when the stone-nin had sacrificed himself to attempt to kill the enemy. They were obviously trained well. If this was the strength of one jounin, then how would they fare against Stone's strongest?

"Let's move." Kisame said.

Itachi gave a nod and they began moving to their destination, more quickly this time, no doubt setting off alarms as they moved, but now their goal was just to steal the Scroll and leave as quickly as possible. The Scroll of Seals was in a secluded place in the forest. They came out into a large opening with a temple in the middle. It should have been guarded by 4 elite Stone-nin, but the Uchiha could see none. He gave a frown, but kept his thoughts to himself.

They moved into the temple and were approached three Stone-nin. Itachi continued moving, unsheathing his katana and slashing hard. It cut cleanly through the Stone-nin's flesh as if it were a kitchen kife cutting through cheese. Blood splat over the ground as guts spilled out of the cut. He looked up to where Kisame had taken out the other two with one slash.

Something was definitely wrong. They had just met a nightmare of a ninja before and now the 'elites' were even weaker than some of the Chuunin in Konoha? What was wrong?

Kisame had similar thoughts too and was as confused as he was.

The two calmly walked towards the alter and looked at where the Scroll of Seals was...

...or should have been.

"Kuso! A trap!" Kisame cursed as Stone nin surrounded him. These were the pros; they showed no openings and no emotions. There was no easy escape.

The two missing nin pulled out their weapons and moved into position, back to back. They had underestimated this village. Badly.

Not only did the Stone village have really powerful Ninja, but they had plans in place for any situation. There were three possibilities: One, there was a traitor among the Akatsuki who had told Stone that Itachi and Kisame were coming, thus the Stone had formulated a trap to catch them. This was unlikely because even though Akatsuki were made of criminals, when it came to betrayal, Itachi knew none of them would do it. Second possibility was that the Stone had discovered them when they sneaked into the village or when the golem had self destructed. If so, it meant that the Stone ninja were VERY fast and effective. Third possibility was that this trap was permanent. They put out misinformation about the guards and the Scroll of Seals while having a trap awaiting any intruders. But did Stone really have the manpower to have such powerful ninjas waiting JUST to guard the scroll of seals?

An amused laughter was heard through the room. Itachi's Sharingan eyes moved to the owner of the laugh and widened in surprise.

Orochimaru, one of the three Sannin of Leaf, missing-nin, ex-Akatsuki and Snake user stood there, a smirk on his scarred face.

"What are you doing here, traitor." Itachi said in a low level, menacing voice. Traitor could have meant for leaf and for Atatsuki. Both were valid since Itachi also came from Leaf.

"More to the point, what are YOU doing here?" He said with a smirk and produced a large Scroll from behind his back making the Sharingan user narrow his blood red eyes. "Trying to steal this, are you?" The snake-man gave a cold laugh. "You aren't going to be able to get it. You can't escape this many Elite Stone-nin, especially with me and my handpicked bodyguards around. I was surprised when I heard that someone had entered this Temple, but I knew straight away that only Akatsuki could have penetrated the defences Earth has set up."

_So that means it's the third possibility since he only found out when I penetrated the temple. That means that Stone has a bigger army than anyone thought of. _Itachi thought, his thoughts darkening. _This is bad._

"What do you want?" Itachi said, with an emotionless expression.

"Join me. I can give you power after I take over the world. Lots of it. I will crush the other entire pitiful village as they attempt to fend my Empire off. But they won't succeed. You've already seen the standard of a strong Stone Jounin. And you have yet to see the might of Earth's main army. As well as all my missing-nin warriors. Anyone who stands in my way will be killed. It would be foolish to do so." Orochimaru said in the typical 'I'm an evil dude revealing my plot now'.

Itachi just smirked. "Pitiful." He said with a chuckle, Orochimaru hardened his gaze. "You cling to life desperately. Only reason you can even fight is because of that stupid forbidden technique of yours. Don't deny it; while you were in the Akatsuki, we helped you perfect it. You are weak. By the time my brother becomes a Jounin, he could kill you. So could that Kyuubi kid."

"Kill them." was Orochimaru's command.

"MANGEKYOU SHARINGAN!!" Several of the Stone-nin fell to the ground, screaming and clutching their heads. This was the REAL Mangekyou Sharingan. What he had used on Sasuke and even on Kakashi had been a weak, cut down version of the technique. But what he was using now was the fully powered version. Those that fell to the ground had suffered more pain and suffering than most had in a lifetime. They were affected by pain that wasn't affected by physical limitations.

They lost their minds.

Everything, conscious and subconscious. Without the subconscious to give out commands such as making the heart beat and such, their bodies just died away. This was the true power behind the Uchiha's most deadly technique which only Itachi perfected.

He had never let anyone see this technique and live. Those who lived only suffered from a milder version of Mangekyou Sharingan. Even at those lower levels, the technique appeared very powerful, but it was still down playing the real ability. Orochimaru had no doubt trained these ninja mentally, so they were able to continue after such mental pain without it leaving any trauma in their heads.

The element of surprise was indeed the best talent of a Ninja.

Orochimaru hadn't expected something like this. He was staring in shock as some of his best warriors fell without a fight. He clenched his fist. "Don't look at his eyes! Take him out."

But the damage had been done. If the Stone-nin had known about Itachi's true ability, they could have closed their eyes and fought, which would make it a completely different situation. But no matter how powerful they were, the real power of the Mangekyou Sharingan killed them before they could fight back. The two Akatsuki used the confusion to escape into the darkness, barely escaping the clutches Orochimaru.

Itachi had only one thought going through his mind. _I failed..._ It was the closest he had ever been to death for a long time. He'd have to warn the rest of his group about Orochimaru. He was a lot stronger than he seemed...

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Naruto ran down the path through the forest. The lush green of trees and bushes filled with all kinds of wildlife rushed passed him. Birds, animals, insects. Not disturbed by humanity. Something as beautiful and untouched as this landscape would never be found in a place even close to where humans occupied it. Undoubtedly in a few years, this place would be discovered, cut down and built into a large city which was beautiful in its own way.

Naruto hadn't realized how much he preferred this over Konoha. It wasn't that he didn't love Konoha or anything, he just felt like he 'fitted' in here. In Konoha, he felt like an outsider, always getting cold stares or being laughed at. Save for a few. Here, he felt like he was respected well. He had his 'family' of Blaze and Flame. It was a beautiful place which he had come to call 'home'.

Even though he ran on two feet; he resembled a fox, which seemed fitting for his 'condition'. Maybe that was why he preferred this place. Even though he was a human, he still had some of Kyuubi's fox instincts in him, which made him feel closer to nature.

Blaze ran happily with him, keeping up to the ninja's speed easily. Naruto's 'brother' was thoroughly enjoying himself. Jumping against the wind, letting it flow through his fur giving pleasurable sensations through its body. He had also begun looking up to Naruto as kin, as an older brother. And being like younger brothers are, they always wanted to be like their sibling. Blaze loved watching Naruto train, and even more so when he could join in. He wanted to grow up to become a fearless warrior like Naruto or Kyuubi.

Strangely enough, Blaze actually seemed closer to Naruto than Kyuubi while Flame was closer to Kyuubi. Both were female kitsunes and both had a younger person to take care of. They would instinctively have a friendship. The only difference was, Flame was very protective of Blaze while Kyuubi wanted to make Naruto a strong fighter, even if it meant that the blonde haired genin would get hurt along the way. She did care for her host, but did see the importance of being trained in harsher environments. Wars weren't caring, so training shouldn't be either. And in the end, they were both mature female hunters while Blaze and Naruto were still young.

They were on their morning run. Naruto found it an easy task now. He didn't get any pains and got faster and further every day. Blaze loved joining in as well, 'training' with his 'adopted' brother.

They reached the end of their run to come to a halt in a clearing. Blaze fell to the ground with a thump, breathing heavily, his underside visibly rising and falling.

Naruto on the other hand wasn't panting at all, rather just taking a few large breaths and then moving back to his normal breath pace, not feeling exhausted at all, in fact, feeling pumped to start with the real training.

He started his work out. Push ups, pull ups, sit ups, calf raises, squats were just some of the exercises he did. He continued until his muscles felt like they would fall off after a good two hours.

After that, he lay back for a while, letting the pain all around his body subside then had some lunch, which was fairly light, consisting of some fruits and vegetables.

Then he continued his daily routine, moving into his taijutsu styles. Going through forms and routines, then practicing reflexes. At the end, Kyuubi would always teach him a few new techniques for his hand-to-hand combat.

Moving from there, they went to jutsus. Despite the fact Naruto believed they were useless, they started practicing all their techniques, starting from very simple Academy level jutsus like Buushin, which Kyuubi made him perfect, to some of the extremely powerful ones Kyuubi had taught him.

As the day neared the end they had dinner, which was heavy, meat mainly. Just before sleep, they would always go over strategies and tactics. As Kyuubi always said, even though Naruto had strokes of brilliances, usually, he was tactically weak.

**_Never use your most powerful attack in a fight. Try to take out the enemy as quickly and efficiently as possible without revealing techniques you can fall back later as a last resort. _**Kyuubi said.** _When traveling, never let your guard down. In fact, never let your guard down, period. But while on a mission or traveling, you have to be especially careful. Travel with your team, but the 'Naruto' traveling with them should be a powerful shadow clone. Another clone should be a kilometer or so in front of you, scouting the area. Another behind you, watching for stalkers. And a few scouring the bush for attackers. The real you should hide somewhere unseen. This gives you warning of an attack, and any attacks that may surprise you will only kill a shadow clone, which means they lose the advantage. Also remember, you're all about becoming Hokage and being all public eye and stuff. That's bad. If you're famous, then you can't surprise people. If someone saw Jiraiya or one of the legendary Sannin walking passed, they would choose a weaker target because they know they don't stand a chance. If they see a weakling, they attack and the weakling ends up to be super strong, then they could gain some valuable secrets._**

Those were the types of things Naruto learnt during strategy. After many long debates, Naruto finally gave up his dream to become Hokage. Kyuubi had convinced him that the Hokage wasn't the best ninja in the village, rather the best _leader _in the village. Hokage's rarely fought, most of the time they sat in their offices planning attacks and doing admin work for the village. This definitely wouldn't interest Naruto and he finally gave in. It was a big moment in Naruto's life, his biggest dream he had was replaced by another one.

To be the best ninja he could be. To protect those that he wanted to. To destroy those that he wanted to.

To be able to say "I will beat you." And actually carry it out, no matter who the enemy was. To be able to protect his friends from any and all dangers they would face. To be one of the best ninja in the world, a ninja that was only acknowledged by those that mattered:

His friends, his teacher and himself.

.  
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Shibuki, the leader of the Village of Falls, stood in front of the Great Tree. Situated in the middle of the forest of Falls, it towered over all the other trees, its trunk thicker than twenty houses and its leaves bigger than a person. Nothing would be able to cut or destroy the tree, no matter how powerful. No one knew how long the Great Tree had been in existence, all they knew was that once every hundred years, it produced an unknown substance dubbed the 'Hero Water'. This special liquid seemed to have the ability to increase the chakra of the drinker tenfold. No one knew why it did that and there was no one in Falls who was smart enough to actually work it out, but nevertheless, it was used by falls to protect the small village.

It had been a century since the last time the 'Hero Water' had been produced and thus, the tree had shown the signs of preparing to produce the water. When one of the children of the village had come to him running, saying that the tree was glowing, Shibuki had grabbed the first bottle he could find and come running.

Now he stood before the humungous tree with his two most trusted and most powerful warriors. They both looked slightly nervous but excited at the same time. It wasn't everyday that they got to witness the legendary tree producing the biggest secret of their village. It was indeed a life experience. Nevertheless, they kept to their duty and had their eyes looking for any possible signs of ambush. If someone got a hold of the 'Hero Water' then their enemy could crush them and their allies. It was definitely not something they were keen about.

The part of the tree which was glowing suddenly became brighter. Any warrior there who could manipulate chakra could feel the intense life force of the tree exploding from it. It all began to focus in a single point where the bark was glowing yellow. The yellow turned to a bright, powerful red. Everyone was staring wide eyed and the air was tense.

Heavy winds began to pick up around the tree, generated by the intense chakra field around it. Plants around the tree began accelerated growth at an unbelievable rate, the chakra helping them. Small stems became trees in front of their very eyes. The most healthy looking trees they had ever seen, rich with green leaves and fruit.

The bark suddenly burst open and thick sap oozed out of the bark. The sap was full of rich chakra and he could try to contain it in the bottle, but according to all the scrolls that had been left behind for future leaders, explaining how to collect the 'Hero Water' said that the red sap was too powerful for a human body and the warrior's body would literally explode before it could even be used in a fight. So Shibuki waited, observing the next phase of the process that created the weapon known as 'Hero Water'.

The red liquid substance moved down the tree until it fell into a pond of pure water. It began to dissolve, mixing with the water. Strangely enough, the water didn't turn red; in fact, it seemed to turn even more pure and sparkled with brilliance. Shibuki stepped forward and put his hand into the water and then pulled it out. He flicked it at a plant, tiny droplets hitting its leaves and branches. In a magnificent display showing the power of the 'Hero Water', the plant grew massive in a few seconds, and then died. Very similar to how it affected warriors by giving them strength for a short time, but rewarding them with death afterwards.

He lowered the bottle into the water, which was already starting to lose its potency. The bottle itself was not a normal glass object. Fields of chakra kept the potency of the 'Hero Water' at its full potential so it could last 100 years without becoming useless and reverting back to ordinary water. No one knew how long ago the bottle had been created and by which leader it had been made. The bottle was nearly unbreakable, to prevent accidents by clumsy people and despite its appearance, was not an ordinary bottle.

The pure water filled the chakra reinforced glass bottle until it was full. Shibuki made sure it was as full as it could possibly be then carefully put the cork in. He gave a smile and lifted the bottle into the air into triumph…

…and then it disappeared…

Shibuki's eyes widened in surprise and horror. It had been taken!

A scream was heard behind him.

The leader of the Hidden Village of Falls spun around to see his two bodyguards being eaten by an unnaturally massive snake. Shibuki charged at the snake, but was hit back into the trunk of the Great Tree. His muscles felt like they were going to burst and pain coursed through his veins. He struggled to keep himself conscious. Who was strong enough to hit the strongest ninja in the village to near death with one hit?

He looked up to see two figures. His attacker had grey hair and glasses and his arms had a blue tint on them as chakra covered them. The grey haired man was standing in a stance, ready to protect the other figure who had a pale face and an evil smirk placed upon his lips. Recognition dawned upon Shibuki's face. He had seen that face somewhere before. The 5th Hokage had shown him a picture and warned him. Warned him of one of the three legendary sennin turned traitor, one of the worst threats of the time.

Orochimaru.

In Orochimaru's hand, the bottle of 'Hero Water' was held. All that power in the hands of someone evil. Shibuki shook his head, it would be hell. Orochimaru shouldn't be allowed to keep the bottle. Naruto had taught him about bravely. Not to be selfish but to think about the bigger picture. To charge into a fight knowing you would die to protect those you cared about. Those that trusted you.

Shibuki clenched his fist and looked down at the pool still full of half potent 'Hero Water'. It would not be as strong as the fully potent 'Hero Water', but there was a lot of it. If he gulped down as much as he could have, he would undoubtedly become very powerful and would be able to take down Orochimaru.

And share the same fate as his father.

Death.

He clenched his fist even tighter. It would be for a good cause. Saving the world, his allies, his village…

Those he cared about.

He gave a smirk, his eyes full of determination.

Orochimaru raised an eyebrow, a daring smirk still plastered on his lips.

Shibuki dived into the pool of water and gulped down bucket loads, as much as he could before his stomach felt like it would burst then jumped out. Chakra burst around him, the power of it now shown by its visibility to the naked eye. The grey haired man tensed up a bit, but Orochimaru still held the same smirk, in fact he seemed _amused_.

_I'll show him!_ Shibuki thought angrily as he charged forward at incredible speeds. He stopped his attack and jumped to the right as his first attack had been a feint. But his target had not reacted at all! Either his opponent was weaker than he thought or a lot, lot stronger. Shibuki shook his head and came in for his main attack. He gathered chakra into his fist and punched Orochimaru as hard as he could. As his fist made contacted he made the chakra explode. The result was a massive bang followed by a massive ball of flame and dust twenty metres wide.

Shibuki jumped back at a safe distance away from the explosion, breathing heavily. Pain filled his muscles as the side effects of the chakra became apparently. He felt everything inside him begin to die. He gave a wry smile. He was definitely going to die, but at least he had killed one of the most feared men of his time…

He gave a smile thinking of his family, friends, villagers…Naruto…

His smile began to fade, replaced by a face of pure horror. The dust had cleared to reveal an untouched Orochimaru whose smirk had become even bigger.

"H-How?!" Shibuki stammered in disbelief and dismay.

The grey haired man gave a chuckle. "Boy, that 'Hero Water' of yours increases your chakra by tenfold. Orochimaru's original chakra is a few hundred times your chakra and a he's a better ninja than you. Chakra only counts for a small portion of your fighting strength. In other words, you are going to die and the world will be ours-I mean his." Kabuto quickly corrected himself at Orochimaru's glare.

"NEVER!" Shibuki screamed. "As long as I have courage, I can beat you. That's what Naruto told me." He said and then charged forward.

"Naruto eh?" Kabuto said with a smirk. "You must be pretty stupid, to believe a weakling like him." Then at unbelievable speeds, Shibuki found himself halted, a kunai held by Kabuto in his chest. Blood began to spread as it was absorbed by Shibuki's clothes. Kabuto pulled out the kunai and wiped the blood of it and put it in his pouch.

Orochimaru gave a nod, acknowledging Kabuto's good work, and then turned around to face the leader of this operation who had silently come upon the three ninja of which only two were remaining. "Keep all other villages from finding out about the change in government here." He said slowly with a warped smile. "Tell any messengers the newfound secrecy here is because of the 'Hero Water' appearing at the tree again. Any spies, kill them. Set this place up as a fortress and start training. This place is very close to Leaf."

"Orochimaru-sama." The leader said and then disappeared into the trees.

"Kabuto." The grey haired nin stepped forward with a bow. "You're in charge of the next operation. Gather a team of scientists and find out how this 'Hero Water' is made. Make me an artificial substitute that is easy and cheap to make. Use any means necessary without interfering with my grander plan."

"Yes Orochimaru-sama." Kabuto said. He smirked at this, imagine if every ninja under Orochimaru had enough 'Hero Water' to last them a fight. It would kill them, but it would mean they would become an excellent suicidal army that would destroy any other army while the effects of the water were in effect.

Kabuto was about to leave when he saw some blood fall down Orochimaru's face. Orochimaru seemed to notice too. His master gave an angry snarl. "In my previous state, this would have never have happened. Blast Sarutobi! Even after I've switched bodies, his damn jutsu still affects me!" Orochimaru said.

"Orochimaru-sama, even though your physical attributes have been restored, your chakra systems are yet to-" Kabuto tried to explain.

"Shut up fool! Of course I know why I am considerably weaker now! Now go and start the operation!" Orochimaru ordered looking pretty pissed off.

Kabuto took a deep breath. Sometimes he wondered why he was serving someone weaker than him. But then again, it didn't only take strength to take over the world or to get an army to follow you. Respect was better than fear and Orochimaru had a lot of respect from his subordinates. If Kabuto was to take over, he would only have fear to control his army, which would make them uncontrollable. No, he'd have to serve Orochimaru, but at least when the war was over he would get excellent rewards. He gave a small grin at this.

"Yes Orochimaru-sama."

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_**We're going to town.** _Unexpected, blunt and stated.

"NANI!?!?!?!" Naruto exclaimed definitely not expecting Kyuubi to say something like that out of the blue.

**_I want to work on kenjutsu work. We need a bokken for that. Even though we could make one, it would be better for you to just buy a better made one. Maybe a cheap katana as well._** Kyuubi explained.

"Swordsmanship? Why would I need to do that? Kenjutsu is outdated and useless! I don't know why it was made up in the first place!" Naruto said crudely.

**_History lesson. _**Kyuubi said which was followed by a groan.** _Shut up a listen. Hundreds of years ago, the main method of combat was swords and archery. Battles usually had thousands of people on each side, most of which died. The smaller clans didn't stand a chance against the bigger ones just by brute force. That's where ninja came in. They were originally trained for assassinations and ambushes. To be able to take out entire armies before the enemy knew what was going on. For a while, ninja became deadly and were feared, but as times went on, the bigger enemies also trained ninja for defense and offence, eliminating their use. So scientists on both side researched the manipulation of chakra to a higher extent and found out that by manipulating it in certain ways, deadly techniques could be made. This is where jutsus came from._**

**_After many years, normal kenjutsu became useless. What was the use of slicing off someone's head if you could just use a fire element jutsu on him and nine of his comrades at the same time? Ninja became the main method of warfare as samurai seemed to only be on the battle field to die. _**Naruto looked skeptic but Kyuubi continued.**_Nevertheless, I did say normal kenjutsu. When people mix up kenjutsu and chakra techniques, you can get a very dangerous warrior. I mentioned before that the most powerful ninja try to avoid chakra consuming techniques, but relying on taijutsu all the time can be hard. However, having a very powerful katana, enhanced by chakra and blending your taijutsu, ninjutsu and kenjutsu together, you can become a powerful warrior. The examiner of the preliminaries was definitely a sword user, I could tell. Sasuke's brother, Itachi also uses swords and he's one of the most dangerous men alive._**

Naruto yawned. "How do you know so much about human history anyway?"

**_I used to study a lot. _**Kyuubi replied dryly.** _So anyway, prepare to leave for Tenka._**

"Tenka?"

_**The town you fool.** _Kyuubi snapped. "Oh and Blaze, I can see you, you can't come. A human settlement is no place for a young kit." He said using Naruto's voice.

"Awww." Blaze wined as the kit came out from the bushes where he'd been hiding. "Why can't I come?"

Naruto grinned and grabbed Blaze and started stroking the young fox. "Hey Kyuu-chan! Why can't he come?"

"Because, Naruto, most humans would kill a fox on sight. Especially if it was seen in town." Kyuubi said harshly through Naruto. "Wouldn't want to end up like the rest of your family, would you Blaze?"

Kyuubi immediately regretted it. Blaze stiffened and he looked hurt and sad. The kit wandered off, his ears low and his body shaking.

"Now why the _hell _did you say the last part, damned fox!?" Naruto asked angrily. "You probably wouldn't know shit about losing a family you _love_. So stop bringing it up in front of Blaze! Stupid nine-tails…"

Kyuubi remained silent.

**_If only you knew, Naruto…if only you knew…_**

**_.  
.  
_**

"Today you will be going on an A rank mission." Tsunade said calmly.

There was a few murmurs and excited glances exchanged before the ninja standing in front of her.

"No employer, we're doing his for Konoha. For the mission Teams 7, 8 and 10 will be working as one team. Three jounins, six chuunin and one genin – 10 ninja overall." Ino went a bit red at the last part, being the only genin there. Tsunade continued. "Orochimaru's forces have become a lot more powerful. He is preparing to strike at Ka, one of Fire's cities situated in the north. You are to defend against the attack and neutralize as many enemies as possible. Try to take a few prisoner if you can as well. You will also have approximately one hundred third-class swordsmen and archers. They aren't professionals, but can be of use still."

"From our what our intel has gathered, Orochimaru will be striking with fifteen ninja of weaker skill and about one hundred and fifty swordsmen of unknown skill. This may seem like a lot, but we also have the advantage of knowing the terrain and being in defense. However, our intel has also gathered that Orochimaru has made a 'secret weapon' of sorts which he will be using in this battle. Be wary. Good luck." Tsunade said and gave a small bow.

"Yes Hokage-sama!" Everyone chorused.

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"RAMEN!!!" Naruto shouted in joy, all previous anger at Kyuubi forgotten.

They had arrived in the town of Tenka. It was fairly small, though still bigger than Konoha, which was just a ninja village. It was filled with merchants and such, all trying to interest travelers going to Stone.

Naruto sat down on the stool at the bar, wolfing down his ramen by the mouthful. It was no where as good as the ramen back at Konoha, but after so many months without ramen, it tasted like the best thing in his life.

Nevertheless, Naruto had changed. Even though he was very enthusiastic about his ramen, he still made quick checks for poison as Kyuubi had taught him, at the same time scanning the shop briefly with his kunai in easily accessible positions, his mind racing, inventing various scenarios of using the terrain to his advantage. And all of this was done while he was gulping down bowls of ramen at a time.

Everyone in the store was sweatdropping at the young stranger's appetite.

"Another one please." Naruto said, a big grin upon his face which caused some people to nearly faint.

"Umm sir, we're out. You've eaten all our stock. We don't even have enough ingredients to make more." The owner said in awe.

This caused a disappointed groan from Naruto and a few angry remarks by other customers.

"Ah. Ramen, the most beautiful thing in life." Naruto said grinning as he walked out of the store.

**_That's pathetic…Ramen is all you think about…pfft... _**Kyuubi snorted.**_You're going to have to keep a lower profile if we are to come here more. Remember, ninja are people who don't stand out in a crowd and are without personality. If someone from Konoha comes here and asks for a boy who loves ramen, it's obvious who they'll think of._**

_**Aww, Kyuu-chan, you're no fun.** _Naruto thought back with a grin.

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.

"Weapons such as these are not meant for kids." The old man who owned the weapon shop said bluntly.

Naruto was attempting to purchase a bokken and a katana. The katana was a fairly cheap one made by an unknown blacksmith and while it may not last very well and would chip easily, it was good enough for training. However, when he had gone to the old man and asked to buy it, even though he did have the money, the old man had refused to sell a 'dangerous' weapon to an 'unskilled' and 'irresponsible' child who was 'obviously' trying to just 'show it off to his friends'.

"Hey old man! I'll let you know I'm a shino-" Naruto started but was cut off.

_**DISCRETION!!! Don't tell him you're a shinobi! Tell him your from a Samurai clan and your parents want you to learn kenjutsu!** _Kyuubi said in his mind.

"I'll have you know my parents are Samurai and they want me to learn the noble art of kenjutsu for traditional reasons!" Naruto said in a very 'dignified' tone.

The old man raised an eyebrow. "Well it's good to know SOME people are still keeping their traditions. And here I thought most Samurai clans either just left their traditions alone or became Ninja. Never did like 'em ninja…never were as graceful as the Samurai…" He trailed off. "Well anyway, if you have the money and are doing it for a noble reason such as restoring the Samurai traditions, I guess I'll sell it to you."

Naruto paid for it and then held it in his hand. It felt strange to carry a katana as he was used to carrying lighter weapons. Kunai as his primary and secondary weapons and Hira Shuriken (Shaken/Ninja Stars) as his tertiary weapons. He held the bokken and katana then walked out of the shop.

"Hey kid! What's your name?" The old man said.

**_Hmm…use the family name of Takami, a small Samurai family that lives in the Country of Fire. If he tries to research into you, he won't find anything that suggests you lied. Pick a first name, quick._**

"My name is Akira Takami." Naruto replied confidently.

.  
.

"Orochimaru-sama. I have completed your task." Kabuto said with a smirk.

"Really? That was fairly fast. You impress me even known Kabuto. Give me a demonstration." The pale faced man said.

Kabuto pulled out a flask that contained a liquid that just looked like plain water. "Here it is Orochimaru-sama. A successful chemical copy of the famed 'Hero Water'. It appears that there's a chemical compound in the drink that reacts with the blood in a persons body. The result is a small amount of hostile chakra energy that flows through the chakra stream. This chakra doesn't actually add to ones chakra per say, rather, it systematically opens each of the 8 gate chakra limiters that are usually opened during the technique "Primary Lotus". Due to the fact that it is hostile chakra, the own chakra of the person who has recently had the 'Hero Water' added to their system will slowly destroy the hostile chakra, so the more that is drunken, the more gates are opened. It takes 3mL of the substance to open all 8 gates, but it still needs to be mixed with a dilute, such as water. It's safest to drink where 99 of the solution is water and only 1 is the compound, otherwise it is digested to quickly and the sudden burst of hostile chakra actually destroys the meridians in ones body. The water slows the digestion process so it can slowly be added into the blood stream. Since it opens the 8th gate, it's very doubtful one could survive."

"Interesting." Orochimaru said with a hint of amusement. "It is disappointing that the effect of using Primary Lotus and drinking the Hero Water cannot overlap, otherwise we could make even a weak shinobi stronger than Jiraiya or Tsunade."

Kabuto nodded. "You are correct. Since they both essentially do exactly the same thing, doing both will just destroy your body."

"Well I guess it can't be helped." Orochimaru said. "I want you to mass produce this for our small army heading towards Ka. We can test how effective this really is in battle there. You may tell the soldiers about the side effect of their drinks. We can see who really is loyal and who's not."

"Yes sir!" Kabuto said. "One more thing, I was thinking of 'absorbing' a neighboring country to Stone. It's a small piece of land, but in a good tactical position. It poses no threat and has no ninja force of its own and has a very small defense army that's just made up of a few old Samurai who have settled down and have probably never even seen a battle. It doesn't have much economical power, so no one would really care about defending it. It only really has one city that could be taken by about ten of our Ninja, although I would suggest sending five backup, just incase."

"The name of this country and city?"

"Tenka, of the Country of Sky."

* * *

I also found out I was mistaken when I said 'Taijutsu' meant 'Hand-to-Hand Combot' rather it just means 'Body Movement'. So anything related to moving your body is taijutsu. 

If you want to contact me, do so on:

**AIM:** Kyp Jarik  
**MSN:** (I tend to use this more)


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